The  Majkjng 

OF  A  Country  Parish 

liARLOW  S-MlLLS 


/.  J1.0.  /r. 


^s#^ 


^^  t\ic  IHcoIagrai  ». 


%/; 


PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


% 


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Purchased   by  the    Hamill    Missionary  Fund. 


BV  638  .M5  1914 
Mills,  Harlow  Spencer,  1846- 
The  making  of  a  country 
parish 


LIBRARY 

OF   CHRISTIAN    PROGRESS 


Volumes  Issued 


The  Church  a  Community   Force.       By  Worth  M.    Tippy 
The  Church  at  the  Center.      By  Warren  H.  Wilson 
The  Making  of  a  Country  Parish.       By  Harlow  S.  Mills 


Cloth,  50  Cents,   Prepaid 


ADDITIONAL   VOLUMES  TO   BE  ISSUED 


FROM  BEULAH  TO  BENZONIA 


THE    MAKING    OF    A 
COUNTRY  PARISH 


A  STORY 


HARLOW  S.  MILLS 


NEW  YORK 

Missionary  Education  Movement  of  the 
United  States  and  Canada 

1914 


Copyright,  1914,  by 
MISSIONARY    EDUCATION    MOVEMENT 
OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA 


TO  THE  REV.  AND  MRS.  F.  A.  NOBLE,  D.D., 
WHO  MADE  THE  SUMMER  OF  NINETEEN 
HUNDRED  AND  THIRTEEN  MEMORABLE 
IN  THE  LARGER  BENZONIA  PARISH  BY 
THEIR  PRESENCE,  AND  BY  THEIR 
KINDLY  AND  HELPFUL  INTEREST  IN  ITS 
WORK,  AND  TO  WHOM  THIS  STORY 
OWES  ITS  SUGGESTION  AND  INSPIRATION, 
IT    IS    MOST     GRATEFULLY    INSCRIBED. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

Foreword     by     Newell     Dwight 

HiLLis ix 

Introduction  .....    xiii 
Key  to  Map  ....  xvii 

Description  of  the  Map        .  xviii 

I  The    Historical   Setting  of  the 

Story i 

II   Some  Convictions  Out  of  Which 

THE  Vision  Came  .         .         .12 

III   How  THE  Vision  Came    .         .         -25 

IV  How  THE  Vision  Became  a  Reality     36 

V  The     Methods    of    the      Larger 

Parish  .....     59 

VI  Things  Yet  to  be  Done       .         .     97 
VII   Some  Resultant  Conclusions        .    113 


[vii] 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

FroiM  Beulah  to  Benzonia     .      Frontispiece 
Map  Showing  the  Larger  Parish     .     xvi 
Crystal   Lake  and  Beulah  from  Ben- 
zonia      .  .  .  .  .  .10 

The  Platt  Lake  Chapel       ...       72 
The  Benzonia  Church         .  .  .     104 


[viii] 


FOREWORD 

FOR  many  years  lovers  of  the  republic 
have  been  warning  our  people  as  to 
the  perils  of  modern  city  life.  In  1800  one 
person  out  of  thirteen  lived  in  the  city;  to- 
day nearly  every  other  citizen  lives  in  a 
large  town,  or  a  great  city.  The  city  is  the 
home  of  wealth,  commerce,  and  finance ;  the 
home  of  music,  art,  and  eloquence.  Once 
each  year  all  the  great  leaders  come  for  a 
stay,  long  or  short,  to  the  metropolis.  The 
birds  leave  the  desert  to  seek  the  oasis,  with 
its  palm  trees  and  springs  of  water.  Young 
men,  for  two  generations,  have  been  desert- 
ing the  farm  and  the  village,  to  make  their 
home  in  the  great  city.  Many  unexpected 
perils  have  sprung  up  from  this  massing  of 
population.  Among  these  dangers  are  the 
tenements,  saloon,  gambling  houses,  dens  of 
vice,  the  tendencv  to  anarchv,  incident  to 

^   [ix] 


FOREWORD 


the  contrast  between  the  palaces  on  the 
avenues  and  the  rookeries  on  the  Bowery. 
Insane  people,  defective  children,  men  and 
women  wrecked  through  drink  and  drugs, 
are  some  of  the  incidental  results  of  con- 
gested populations.  Innumerable  addresses 
have  been  given  upon  the  perils  of  the  city 
life,  and  innumerable  pamphlets  and  books 
have  been  published  filled  with  warnings 
and  black  with  alarm.  The  inevitable  result 
is  that  the  attention  of  the  people  has  been 
focalized  upon  the  manufacturing  towns 
and  the  large  cities. 

Now  comes  the  Rev.  Harlow  S.  Mills, 
with  his  study  of  the  rural  population. 
With  the  wisdom  made  possible  by  twenty 
years  of  first-hand  knowledge  he  sets  forth 
the  influence  of  the  country  upon  the  large 
town  and  city.  He  tells  us  that  the  country 
has  furnished  the  leaders  for  the  people.  It 
is  in  the  country  that  the  boy  has  his  oppor- 
tunity of  brooding  and  reading  and  reflect- 

[x] 


FOREWORD 


ing,  while  in  solitude  he  develops  his  own 
gift  and  grows  great.  The  Church  has 
learned  to  depend  upon  the  country  for  its 
theological  students,  as  well  as  for  its  best 
students  of  law  and  medicine.  But  of  late 
the  country  church  has  suffered  grievously 
through  the  pull  of  the  city  upon  its  best 
young  men  and  women.  The  inevitable 
result  has  been  that  as  the  city  church  has 
waxed  the  country  church  has  waned  in 
wealth,  numbers,  and  influence.  Many 
things  have  occurred  during  the  past  twenty 
years  that  are  calculated  to  stir  the  note  of 
fear,  lest  the  life  and  institutions  of  the 
republic,  rooted  in  the  country,  should 
slowly  starve.  One  of  the  problems  of  the 
hour  has  been  the  rejuvenation  of  the 
country  Sunday-school  and  the  country 
church. 

Leaders  of  the  past  generation  have  strug- 
gled often  in  vain  with  this  problem. 
Twenty  years   ago,   the   Rev.    Harlow   S. 

ixi] 


FOREWORD 


Mills,  a  friend  of  my  boyhood,  took  a 
country  church  in  northwestern  Michigan, 
and  started  in  to  develop  the  same  commu- 
nity spirit  among  the  people  who  lived  in 
widely  separated  school  districts  that  the 
student  finds  developed  in  the  wards  of  a 
great  city.  The  story  of  these  twenty  years 
is  full  of  fascination  to  all  lovers  of  their 
fellow  men  and  of  the  Christian  Church. 
Mr.  Mills  has  made  some  important  discov- 
eries and  established  certain  mother  prin- 
ciples that  should  be  of  invaluable  service 
to  the  one  half  of  our  people  living  in  small 
towns  and  rural  districts.  I  believe  this 
author  and  lover  of  his  fellows  has  grown 
the  good  seed  that  ultimately  will  sow  the 
continent  with  bread. 

Newell  Dwight  Hillis. 


[xii] 


INTRODUCTION 

THE  rapid  growth  of  our  cities  and 
towns  during  the  last  quarter  of  a 
century  has  brought  us  face  to  face  with  a 
serious  problem.  The  religious  and  social 
conditions  that  have  arisen  give  occasion 
for  grave  apprehensions,  and  have  been  sub- 
jects of  careful  thought.  The  City  Problem 
has  been  widely  discussed.  Much  thought 
and  effort  have  been  expended  in  its  solu- 
tion, and,  while  progress  has  been  made  and 
the  outlook  is  hopeful,  the  end  is  not  yet. 
Within  recent  years  another  problem  has 
arisen  which  is  scarcely  less  serious  than 
that  which  the  city  presents,  and  that  is  the 
Country  Problem.  There  are  two  reasons 
why  this  has  not  attracted  special  attention 
until  quite  lately.  First,  the  city  problem 
has  been  so  serious  and  so  acute  that  it 
has  occupied  the  public  mind  to  the  exclu- 

[xiii] 


INTRODUCTION 


sion  of  conditions  in  the  country.  And,  in 
the  second  place,  those  conditions  have 
increased  in  seriousness  so  rapidly  in  recent 
years  and  their  demand  for  attention  and 
careful  consideration  has  become  so  insist- 
ent and  imperious  that  it  can  no  longer  be 
disregarded.  No  thoughtful  person  can 
now  blink  the  fact  that  there  is  a  country 
problem,  that  it  is  equal  in  seriousness  to  the 
city  problem,  and  that  the  two  are  so  inti- 
mately related  that  neither  of  them  can  be 
solved  by  itself  alone.  They  stand  or  fall 
together. 

I  have  no  theory  to  present,  nor  any  phi- 
losophy to  exploit.  I  have  no  patent  way  of 
solving  either  the  city  or  the  country  prob- 
lem. I  have  only  a  story  to  tell  of  some 
things  that  have  been  done  that  may  point 
the  way  toward  a  solution  of  the  country 
problem.  It  is  the  simple  account  of  an 
experiment  in  the  work  of  religious  and 
social  welfare  that  promises  to  be  successful. 

[xiv] 


INTRODUCTION 


The  parish  that  is  spoken  of  may  be  re- 
garded as  an  experiment  station,  and  this 
story  is  only  the  account  of  the  working  out 
of  certain  methods.  It  will  be  enough  if 
the  story  shall  prove  to  be  some  small  con- 
tribution to  the  solution  of  the  important 
and  difficult  country  problem. 

One  of  the  greatest  difficulties  I  had  in 
writing  this  story  was  with  myself.  Some 
of  the  experiences  were  so  purely  personal 
that  I  hesitated  to  speak  of  them  and  I 
shrank  from  the  so  frequent  use  of  the  per- 
sonal pronouns.  In  the  first  draft  of  the 
story  I  resorted  to  all  manner  of  circum- 
locution to  avoid  their  use,  but  I  found  it 
difficult  to  adopt  any  consistent  form  and 
the  result  was  to  weaken  the  impression. 
So,  acting  on  the  advice  of  able  and  judi- 
cious critics,  I  concluded  to  tell  the  story 
in  the  simplest  and  most  direct  way. 

H.  S.  Mills. 


Benzonia,  Michigan, 
August  15,  1914- 

[xv] 


MAP  SHOWING  1^ 

THE  LARGER  PARISH 

(WESTHALF  OF  BENZIE  COUNTY. 


KEY  TO  MAP 

1.  Benzonia  Village,  Benzonia  Township.  Church  Organi- 
zation, Church  Building.  Morning  Service  every  Sunday. 
Sunday  School,  Christian  Endeavor  Society,  Woman's  Mis- 
sionary Society,  Weekly  Prayer  Meeting,  Ladies'  Aid  Society, 

2.  Beulah  Village,  Benzonia  Township.  Chapel.  Evening 
Service  every  Sunday,  Siinday  School,  Ladies'  Aid  Society. 

3.  Eden,  Benzonia  Township.  Chtirch  Organization, 
Schoolhouse  (Chapel,  1914).  Evening  Service  every  Sunday, 
Sunday  School,  Christian  Endeavor  Society,  Weekly  Prayer 
Meeting,  Neighborhood  Club,  Ladies'  Social  Circle. 

4.  Champion  Hill,  Homestead  Township.  Church  Organi- 
zation, Chapel.  Morning  Service  every  Sunday,  Christian 
Endeavor  Society. 

5.  Piatt  Lake,  Benzonia  Township.  Chapel.  Afternoon 
Service  on  alternate  Sundays.    Ladies'  Aid  Society. 

6.  North  Crystal,  Benzonia  Township.  Private  Home 
(Chapel,  19 1 4).  Afternoon  Service  on  alternate  Sundays, 
Sunday  School,  Ladies'  Aid  Society. 

7.  Grace,  Gilmore  Township.  Church  Organization, 
Chapel.  Morning  Service  every  Sunday,  Sunday  School, 
Neighborhood  Club,  Ladies'  Aid  Society. 

8.  Demerley,  Joyfield  Township.  Schoolhouse.  Afternoon 
Service  on  alternate  Sundays,  Sunday  School. 

9.  South  Chapel,  Benzonia  Township.  Chapel.  Evening 
Service  on  alternate  Sundays,  Sunday  School. 

10.  East  Joy^eld,  Joyfield  Township.  Chapel.  Evening 
Service  on  alternate  Sundays,  Sunday  School. 

11.  Liberty  Union,  Benzonia  Township.  Schoolhouse. 
Afternoon  Service  on  alternate  Sundays,  Neighborhood  Club. 

12.  South  Elberta,  Gilmore  Township.  Schoolhouse.  Sun- 
day School. 

[xvii] 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  MAP 

In  order  that  the  term,  "The  Larger  Parish,"  the  name  by 
which  the  work  of  this  story  has  come  to  be  familiarly  known, 
may  be  understood,  some  description  of  its  geography  and 
topography  as  represented  on  the  accompanying  map,  may 
be  necessary. 

The  Larger  Benzonia  Parish  is  situated  in  Benzie  County, 
Michigan,  eight  miles  from  Lake  Michigan  and  at  the  east 
end  of  Crystal  Lake,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  small  lakes  in 
the  state.  Benzonia-Beulah,  the  twin  villages  which  are  at 
the  center  of  the  Larger  Parish,  are  on  the  Ann  Arbor  Rail- 
road, which  extends  diagonally  through  the  state  from 
Toledo,  Ohio,  to  Frankfort  on  Lake  Michigan.  The  Larger 
Parish  includes  Benzonia  Township  and  portions  of  Lake, 
Homestead,  Joyfield,  GUmore,  and  Crystal  Lake  Townships. 
It  divides  itself  into  three  sub-parishes:  the  North  Parish, 
with  two  churches,  Champion  Hill  and  Eden,  and  two  out- 
stations.  North  Crystal  and  Piatt  Lake;  the  South  Parish, 
with  one  church,  Grace,  and  five  out-stations.  South  Chapel, 
Demerley,  East  Joyfield,  Liberty  Union,  and  South  Elberta; 
while  between  these  is  the  Central  Parish,  with  Benzonia 
on  the  hilltop  and  Beulah  in  the  valley,  half  a  mile  distant. 

The  map  represents  the  western  half  of  Benzie  County,  and 
the  various  churches,  chapels,  and  other  out-stations  are 
designated. 


[xviii] 


THE  HISTORICAL  SETTING  OF 
THE  STORY 

THE  story  of  New  England  with  the 
Pilgrims  left  out  could  be  neither 
understood  nor  appreciated.  We  must 
know  something  about  those  sturdy,  con- 
scientious men  and  women  who  became 
exiles  and  crossed  the  stormy  Atlantic  that 
they  might  have  '^f  reedom  to  worship  God." 
We  must  understand  something  about  the 
barren  and  the  wintry  coast  that  received 
them,  something  of  their  struggles  and  suf- 
ferings, their  alms  and  aspirations,  if  we 
would  know  the  history  of  that  civilization 
that  they  founded,  or  get  a  true  conception 
of  the  experiment  in  democracy  that  they 
so  successfully  wrought  out. 

The  story  that  is  about  to  be  told  had  its 
Pilgrims.    To  leave  them  out  would  be  to 

[I] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


spoil  the  story.  It  cannot  be  understood 
without  knowing  something  of  their  heroic 
spirit,  their  sincere  devotion,  and  the  man- 
ner in  which  they  permanently  impressed 
their  ideas  and  their  personality  upon  the 
community  which  they  founded  and  the 
institutions  which  they  planted.  Some  ac- 
count of  its  historical  setting  will  be  neces- 
sary in  order  to  make  this  story  of  country 
evangelization  complete. 

The  half  century  between  1825  and  1875 
witnessed  the  most  remarkable  educational 
movement  that  our  country  has  ever  seen. 
It  was  the  era  of  college  planting.  During 
that  period  a  line  of  Christian  colleges  was 
projected  from  New  York  to  California, 
many  of  which  have  been  developed  and 
stand  to-day  as  monuments  to  the  zeal  and 
foresight  of  that  remarkable  generation  of 
nation  builders.  The  value  of  their  work, 
and  its  influence  for  good  upon  the  people 
and  the  institutions  of  the  most  populous, 

[2] 


HISTORICAL   SETTING 

the  wealthiest,  and  the  most  influential  sec- 
tion of  our  country  cannot  be  estimated. 

In  1858  a  company  of  people  from  north- 
ern Ohio,  who  had  lighted  their  torch  of 
religious  and  educational  enthusiasm  at  the 
flame  of  Oberlin,  came  into  the  vast  wilder- 
ness of  northern  Michigan  with  the  purpose 
of  planting  there  Christian  institutions. 
They  were  high-minded,  sturdy  people, 
with  strong  religious  convictions.  The  Pil- 
grims did  not  bring  to  the  New  England 
coast  a  truer  motive  or  a  purer  purpose. 
They  were  willing  to  put  into  the  enterprise 
their  lives  and  their  fortunes.  They  stamped 
the  new  community  that  they  founded  with 
the  impress  of  their  ideals,  and  that  stamp 
has  persisted. 

These  modern  Pilgrims  repeated  with 
some  modification  the  experiences  of  their 
New  England  prototypes.  After  a  long 
and  stormy  voyage  on  the  Great  Lakes  they 
landed  in  the  late  autumn  on  an  inhospita- 

[3] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


ble  coast,  built  them  some  rough  shanties 
that  their  descendants  would  not  consider 
worthy  to  shelter  their  cattle,  and  there  they 
passed  a  severe  winter.  They  explored  the 
northwestern  Michigan  woods,  and  finally, 
with  a  strange  indifference  to  the  impor- 
tance of  a  railway  to  the  development  of  a 
town,  they  lighted  upon  a  level  plateau  on 
the  top  of  a  high  hill,  two  hundred  feet 
above  the  placid  waters  of  beautiful  Lake 
Crystal,  and  eight  miles  from  Lake  Mich- 
igan, and  there  they  pitched  their  tents. 
Like  Abraham,  their  first  work  after  enter- 
ing the  Promised  Land  was  to  build  an  altar 
to  Jehovah,  and  like  him  and  their  New 
England  ancestors,  they  built  it  on  the  high- 
est elevation  that  they  could  find.  One  of 
the  first  things  they  did  was  to  select  a  site 
for  a  church  and  for  a  school,  and,  standing 
under  the  tall  maples  and  beeches,  with 
hymn  and  prayer,  to  dedicate  that  high  hill- 
top to  the  cause  of  Christian  education. 

[4] 


HISTORICAL   SETTING 

The  church  that  they  planted,  the  first  in 
all  the  Grand  Traverse  region,  celebrated 
the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  its  organization 
in  1910.  It  has  now  a  membership  of  about 
three  hundred,  and  is  the  center  of  the  reli- 
gious and  social  life,  not  only  of  the  imme- 
diate community  but  also  of  the  territory 
known  as  ''The  Larger  Parish,"  twelve 
miles  long  and  ten  miles  wide.  It  has  been 
the  mother  of  churches,  and  now  stands  en- 
circled by  a  number  of  younger  organiza- 
tions that  are  growing  strong  and  sturdy 
under  its  cherishing  influence. 

Benzonia,  the  village  that  they  founded, 
never  became  the  populous  center  that  they 
hoped  it  would  be.  There  are  now  but 
about  four  hundred  people  living  on  the 
hilltop,  and  nearly  as  many  more  in  the 
village  of  Beulah,  which,  at  the  bottom  of 
the  hill  nestles  around  the  head  of  the  Lake, 
half  a  mile  away.  The  two  villages  of  Ben- 
zonia and  Beulah  form  one  corporation,  and 

[5] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


contain  together  about  seven  hundred  in- 
habitants. The  school  which  they  estab- 
lished is  still  doing  business,  though  not  ex- 
actly in  the  way  that  they  anticipated.  They 
thought  to  repeat  the  history  of  Oberlin  by 
planting  in  the  woods  of  northern  Michigan 
an  institution  of  learning  such  as  the  fathers 
planted  in  northern  Ohio.  But  the  condi- 
tions were  very  dissimilar.  Oberlin  was 
in  the  zone  of  quick  settlement.  Cities  and 
towns  soon  sprang  up  all  about  it,  and  it 
became  in  a  few  years  the  center  of  a  large 
population.  But  the  northern  Michigan 
region  developed  very  slowly  and  it  was  a 
long  time  before  there  were  enough  people 
to  maintain  a  college  or  to  justify  its  pres- 
ence. But  from  the  first  there  was  in  opera- 
tion a  school  of  high  order,  and  it  per- 
formed a  splendid  service  in  those  early 
years,  doing  the  educational  work  for  all 
that  region,  and  supplying  teachers  for  the 
public  schools  throughout  a  wide  territory. 

[6] 


HISTORICAL   SETTING 

It  is  now  conducted  as  an  Academy  and  is 
doing  an  excellent  work,  sending  forth  each 
year  large  classes  of  young  people  well  pre- 
pared to  enter  any  college  or  university  in 
the  country.  The  Academy  has  been  main- 
tained very  largely  by  the  gifts  and  sacrifices 
of  the  people  of  the  community,  and  is  an 
important  factor  of  the  work  that  is  being 
wrought  out  in  ''The  Larger  Parish." 

The  people  of  this  community  are  unus- 
ually homogeneous.  There  are  no  Roman 
Catholics,  few  foreigners,  and  no  colored 
people.  They  are  hardworking  and  indus- 
trious, none  of  them  possessing  large  wealth, 
and  none  of  them  being  very  poor.  All  are 
compelled  to  toil  for  their  daily  bread. 
There,  if  anywhere,  it  is  possible  to  live  ''the 
simple  life,"  and  in  such  healthful  condi- 
tions the  community  life  has  developed. 
Though  the  presence  of  the  Academy  has 
been  a  means  of  culture  and  the  center  and 
inspirations  of  literary  life,  it  is  by  no  means 

[7] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


true  that  all  the  people  in  the  wide  parish 
are  well  educated.  A  few  miles  from  the 
village  primitive  and  pioneer  conditions  are 
found,  and  there  is  no  lack  of  genuine  mis- 
sionary ground. 

The  social  life  of  this  community  is  very 
satisfactory.  There  are  no  classes  or  cliques. 
The  people  mingle  together  freely  on  a 
common  basis,  and  exemplify  to  an  unusual 
degree  the  principle  of  brotherhood.  There 
has  never  been  a  saloon  in  the  community, 
and  the  people  are  for  the  most  part  steady- 
going  and  law-abiding.  They  are  loyal 
to  their  home  institutions,  crowding  the 
church  on  Sunday  and  taking  a  lively  inter- 
est in  all  things  that  pertain  to  the  welfare 
of  the  village  and  the  surrounding  country. 
They  are  dependent  upon  themselves  for  lit- 
erary and  musical  entertainments — no  shows 
or  moving  picture  combinations  ever  come 
that  way.  But  a  good  lecture  course  is 
maintained,  and  there  are  frequent  musical 

[8] 


HISTORICAL   SETTING 

and  literary  entertainments  by  the  Academy 
and  high  school  and  by  the  people  of  the 
town;  so  there  is  no  lack  of  the  means  of 
recreation,  and  that  of  a  high  order  and  of 
a  helpful  character. 

At  the  west  end  of  Crystal  Lake,  eight 
miles  distant,  on  a  beautiful  tract  of  land 
with  frontage  on  Lake  Michigan,  as  well  as 
on  Crystal  Lake,  are  the  grounds  of  the 
Frankfort  Congregational  Summer  As- 
sembly. The  location  is  superb,  and  it  is 
rapidly  becoming  a  favorite  summer  resort, 
attracting  people  even  from  New  England 
and  from  the  Pacific  coast.  The  relation 
between  Benzonia  and  the  summer  assembly 
is  very  close.  It  is  easily  accessible  by  fre- 
quent boats.  Every  year  they  have  "Ben- 
zonia Day,"  when  the  Assembly  adjourns 
to  the  beautiful  campus  on  the  hilltop,  en- 
joying a  dinner  together  under  the  trees 
and  a  well-arranged  program  of  speeches 
and  music.    The  residents  of  the  surround- 

[9] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


ing  country  come  in  crowds  to  these  outdoor 
festivals  and  they  are  eagerly  anticipated  by 
all.  They  afford  a  fine  opportunity  for  the 
people  of  the  vicinage  to  meet  in  friendly 
intercourse  those  who  come  from  distant 
parts  of  the  country  to  enjoy  the  cool  breezes 
and  the  woods  and  lakes  of  the  northern 
Michigan  regions,  and  they  are  appreciated 
by  all.  Sometimes  the  Assembly  is  the  host, 
and  the  people  of  Benzonia  are  the  guests. 
During  the  summer  the  leading  ministers 
of  the  country  are  frequently  in  the  Ben- 
zonia pulpit,  and  so  the  people,  though  liv- 
ing quite  remote  from  the  great  centers,  and 
not  given  to  much  travel,  have  the  privilege 
of  hearing  the  most  noted  speakers,  and  thus 
come  in  touch  with  the  good  things  that  are 
being  said  and  done  in  the  wider  world. 

The  Academy  and  summer  Assembly  are 
closely  related  to  the  work  of  the  Larger 
Benzonia  Parish.  While  this  work  has  not 
been  dependent  upon  them,  their  presence 

[lO] 


HISTORICAL   SETTING 

and  influence  have  been  a  great  stimulus 
and  encouragement,  and  they  have  added 
strength  and  stability  to  the  movement. 

Thus  briefly  is  sketched  the  setting  of  the 
story  that  will  be  told  in  the  succeeding 
chapters. 


["1 


II 

SOME  CONVICTIONS  OUT  OF 
WHICH  THE  VISION  CAME 

A  CONVICTION  is  a  great  thing.  It 
is  the  egg  out  of  which  all  great 
enterprises  are  hatched.  Almost  everything 
that  is  worth  while  was  once  wrapped  up  in 
a  conviction.  Abraham  had  a  conviction 
that  he  ought  to  obey  God's  leading.  He 
took  his  journey  to  the  ''land  that  he  knew 
not  of,"  and  we  have  as  the  result  the  He- 
brew race,  and  all  that  has  come  out  of  it  for 
the  world. 

The  vision  of  which  I  am  telling  the  story 
was  at  first  only  a  conviction.  There  were 
a  few  things  of  which  I  had  become  cer- 
tain. Just  how  the  conviction  seized  me  I 
hardly  know,  but  I  like  to  think  that  it  came 
from  the  same  source  from  which  Abra- 
ham's conviction  came,  and  that  thought  has 

[12] 


SOME   CONVICTIONS 


made  me  confident  in  following  this  guid- 
ing gleam. 

I.  I  became  convinced  that  the  real  ob- 
ject of  the  Church  is  to  serve  the  people, 
and  that  its  claim  for  support  should  rest 
upon  the  same  ground  upon  which  every 
other  institution  bases  its  claim  for  support 
— that  it  gives  value  received.  That  has  not 
always  been  the  idea  of  church  people. 
They  have  considered  the  Church  as  a 
divine  institution,  and  that  because  of  its 
divine  origin  and  sacred  character  it  can 
properly  demand  respect  and  support. 
There  was  a  time  in  the  not  very  distant  past 
when  the  ministers  of  the  Church,  as  its 
representatives,  might  demand  reverence 
and  respect  because  of  the  position  they 
occupied.  There  was  much  of  reverence 
and  regard  for  ^'the  cloth."  But  those  days 
are  past.  Now  the  Church  is  valued  only 
for  what  it  does.  If  it  does  nothing,  it  need 
no  longer  look  for  respectful  recognition. 

[13] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


If  it  makes  no  contribution  to  the  commu- 
nity whose  value  can  be  seen  and  appreci- 
ated, it  cannot  expect  support  or  favorable 
regard.  People  do  not  care  very  much  for 
clerical  dignity  in  these  days.  They  are  not 
asking  what  place  a  man  occupies,  or  what 
kind  of  clothes  he  wears,  but  what  he  does 
for  the  community.  Is  he  rendering  valu- 
able service?  They  are  quite  ready  to  pay 
for  service  that  is  of  real  worth,  but  for  dig- 
nity and  traditionary  sanctity  they  have 
slight  regard. 

There  are  some  who  seem  to  think  that 
the  Church  makes  good  by  building  itself 
up — that  if  it  becomes  strong  as  an  institu- 
tion, if  it  flourishes  in  its  outward  aspects,  it 
justifies  its  existence.  They  are  well  satis- 
fied if  it  increases  in  numbers,  if  it  erects 
splendid  and  beautiful  buildings,  if  it  con- 
tributes substantially  to  the  glory  of  the  de- 
nomination to  which  it  belongs,  whether  it 
really  serves  the  people  or  not.     But  it  can 

[14] 


SOME   CONVICTIONS 


never  answer  the  ends  of  its  existence  by 
simply  building  itself  up  as  an  institution. 
There  have  been  periods  in  the  history  of 
the  Church  when  it  was  very  strong  as  an 
organization,  but  very  weak  as  an  element 
of  helpfulness  in  the  lives  of  the  people. 
Fine  buildings  and  stately  ritual  and  high 
social  standing  can  never  satisfy  the  great 
Founder  of  the  Church.  Jesus  said,  ''The 
Son  of  man  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto, 
but  to  minister,  and  to  give  his  life  a  ransom 
for  many."  He  sent  his  Church  on  the  same 
errand.  Unless  it  is  doing  the  thing  for 
which  it  was  sent  it  has  no  justification  for 
its  existence.  It  is  here  to  serve,  to  help  the 
people.  In-so-far  as  it  actually  does  serve 
it  may  claim  and  expect  love,  recognition, 
and  support — but  no  further.  This  became 
one  of  my  strong  convictions. 

2.  I  also  became  convinced  that  the 
Church,  if  it  makes  good  must  serve  all  the 
people.    The  impression  has  sometimes  pre- 

[15] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


vailed  that  the  Church  is  for  good  people, 
for  those  who  are  respectable.  It  has  been 
thought  of,  and  sometimes  it  has  thought  of 
itself,  as  under  obligations  to  minister  to  the 
religious  people  of  the  community,  or  to 
those  who  can  be  induced  to  become  relig- 
ious. There  is  a  large  class  of  people  who 
are  not  religiously  inclined  and  who  have  no 
affiliation  with  the  Church,  and  who,  per- 
haps, are  not  likely  to  have,  for  whom  it  has 
not  been  thought  to  be  responsible.  In  al- 
most every  parish,  or  within  reach  of  it, 
there  are  numbers  of  people  who  are  not 
touched  by  the  Church,  and  who  are  not 
considered  to  be  material  for  the  Church  to 
work  upon.  Some  are  outside  of  its  influ- 
ence because  they  live  so  far  away  that  they 
cannot  easily  be  reached.  Some  because  of 
their  character  and  standing  in  society  are 
considered  beyond  its  pale.  What  would  be 
the  effect  if  a  company  of  women  from  the 
street  should  come  into  one  of  our  beautiful 

[i6] 


SOME   CONVICTIONS 


and  respectable  churches  for  a  few  Sunday 
mornings?  How  would  they  be  received? 
Would  the  ushers  show  them  comfortable 
seats?  Would  they  be  welcome  in  the  pews 
of  the  good  people  who  have  come  together 
to  worship  God?  And  yet,  the  great  Head 
of  the  Church  came  "to  seek  and  to  save  that 
which  was  lost."  He  did  not  shun  such 
people  or  banish  them  from  his  presence. 
He  was  "a  friend  of  publicans  and  sinners," 
and  brought  down  upon  himself  serious  crit- 
icism because  he  did  not  discriminate  more 
carefully  in  the  matter  of  his  associates. 
The  Church  should  have  the  spirit  of  the 
Master,  and,  wherever  there  is  a  man, 
woman,  or  child,  there  is  one  in  whom  the 
Church  should  be  interested,  and  whom  it 
should  seek  to  serve,  whatever  may  be  his 
character,  his  condition,  or  his  standing 
socially.  It  became  one  of  my  strong  con- 
victions that  the  Church  has  a  definite  mis- 
sion to  every  person  within  the  possible 

[17] 


A  COUNTRY   PARISH 


range  of  its  influence,  and  out  of  that  convic- 
tion came  the  vision. 

3.  It  also  became  plain  that  if  the 
Church  w^ould  fulfil  its  mission  it  must  serve 
all  the  interests  of  the  people.  I  was 
brought  up  with  the  idea  that  its  mission 
was  largely,  if  not  exclusively,  spiritual.  Its 
chief  and  almost  only  concern  was  the  soul 
of  the  individual  man.  It  was  thought  that 
a  man  has  a  soul,  and  that  that  soul  was  in 
peril.  His  soul  must  be  saved — that  was  the 
important  thing.  It  was  of  small  conse- 
quence that  the  man  himself  went  to  the 
dogs,  if  only  his  soul  was  saved.  The  man 
was  forgotten  in  anxiety  for  his  soul.  We 
were  the  victims  of  a  false  psychology;  as  if 
a  man  and  his  soul  could  be  separated — as 
if  there  could  be  any  such  thing  as  simply 
saving  the  soul  of  a  man!  We  have  come 
to  see  that  a  man,  though  composed  of  many 
parts,  is  a  unit.  He  is  not  put  together 
mechanically,  so  that  one  part  may  be  taken 

[18] 


SOME   CONVICTIONS 


and  treated  and  the  other  parts  ignored.  He 
is  not  built  in  separate  compartments,  his 
soul  in  one,  and  his  body  in  another.  Chris- 
tianity is  not  dealing  with  souls  alone.  It  is 
dealing  with  men,  and  we  are  becoming 
interested  in  all  that  makes  a  man  a  man. 
The  conviction  became  strong  that  the 
Church  should  have  something  to  say  and 
something  to  do  with  everything  that  goes 
to  make  up  the  life  of  the  man;  that  it 
should  make  itself  felt  as  an  influence  in  his 
business,  his  education,  his  recreation,  his 
home  life,  as  well  as  in  his  so-called  relig- 
ious exercises;  that  it  should  be  a  force 
with  him  on  Monday  and  Tuesday  and 
Wednesday  as  well  as  on  Sunday.  In  other 
words,  the  line  that  has  been  supposed  to 
separate  the  sacred  from  the  secular  must  be 
obliterated,  and  every  common  thing  must 
become  sacred.  It  was  seen  that  everything 
that  has  a  rightful  place  in  the  life  of  a  man 
should  be  the  concern  of  the  Church,  and 

[19] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


that  whatever  cannot  be  brought  into  har- 
mony with  the  Church  and  its  principles  has 
no  proper  place  in  the  real  life  of  a  man. 

4.  The  conviction  became  strong  that 
the  village  church,  if  it  would  fulfil  its 
mission,  must  be  responsible  for  country 
evangelization.  It  must  reach  out  into  all 
the  surrounding  neighborhoods,  and  touch 
the  people  in  a  vital  way  for  many  miles 
around.  In  the  popular  conception  the 
influence  of  the  church  has  been  contracted 
and  narrowed  till  it  does  not  include  half 
the  territory  nor  half  the  people  embraced 
in  its  responsibility.  Many  ministers  are 
content  to  tramp  around  in  the  narrow  con- 
fines of  their  own  village,  with  an  occasional 
excursion  into  the  country,  while  there  are 
scores  of  families  living  a  little  more  remote 
for  whom  they  are  attempting  nothing. 
Some  ministers  look  upon  their  churches  as 
their  field  rather  than  their  force — a  field 
to  be  cultivated  rather  than  a  force  of  work- 

[20] 


SOME   CONVICTIONS 


ers  to  be  led  out  into  the  widestretching 
fields  that  lie  beyond.  This  is  a  serious  mis- 
take. Such  a  limited  conception  of  the  ex- 
tent of  its  work  and  such  an  inadequate  idea 
of  its  real  responsibility  and  of  its  best  op- 
portunity will  certainly  condemn  a  church 
to  comparative  uselessness,  and  in  the  end 
to  failure.  When  all  the  village  churches 
get  the  vision  and  see  their  work  in  its  ful- 
ness, the  country  problem  will  be  solved. 

Country  evangelization  belongs  prima- 
rily and  practically  to  the  village  church. 
The  village  church  is  the  only  one  that  can 
really  take  it  up  and  deal  with  it  in  a  suc- 
cessful way.  It  is  in  the  power  of  the 
churches  in  the  villages  and  small  towns  to 
change  the  whole  aspect  of  things  in  the 
country,  religiously,  morally,  and  socially. 

For  some  years  the  pastor  and  church  of 
this  story  had  been  trying  to  do  something 
for  the  outlying  regions,  but  they  had  not 
grasped  the  idea  that  all  the  people  for 

[21] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


many  miles  around  who  were  not  cared  for 
by  some  other  church  were  in  their  parish — 
that  for  them  they  were  responsible  and  to 
them  they  had  a  mission.     They  began  to 
see  that  they  were  not  doing  half  the  work 
they  might  do  and  ought  to  do ;  that  there 
were  scores  of  families,  and  hundreds  of 
people,  to  whom  the  church  was  nothing, 
who  should  be  made  to  feel  its  force  in  a 
stimulating  and  uplifting  way.    They  began 
to  feel  the  pressure  of  that  obligation  that 
had  rested  on  them  all  along,  and  of  which 
they  had  been  unconscious  or  unheedful. 
The  voice  of  God  began  to  sound  plainly  in 
their  ears,  ^^Go  ye  forth  into  these  ripe  har- 
vest-fields, and  gather  sheaves  for  the  Mas- 
ter."   The  conviction  became  so  strong  that 
they  ought  to  take  up  the  wider  work,  and 
the  duty  grew  to  be  so  plain  that  they  won- 
dered that  they  had  not  seen  it  long  before. 
5.     The  conviction  became  strong  that, 
if  the  village  church  would  fulfil  its  mis- 

[22] 


SOME   CONVICTIONS 


sion,  it  must  be  a  community  church.  I  used 
to  think  that  the  church  had  simply  to  do 
with  individuals ;  that  its  work  was  to  reach 
out  here  and  there,  to  get  hold  of  this  one 
and  that  one,  and  that  there  its  work  termi- 
nated. Society  was  thought  of  as  a  heap  of 
sand,  and  not  as  an  organism.  Man  was 
considered  in  himself  alone,  and  not  in  his 
relations,  and  so  he  was  misunderstood,  for 
nothing  can  be  truly  and  fully  known  except 
in  its  relations.  But  it  has  become  plain 
that  this  exclusively  individualistic  concep- 
tion was  a  mistake ;  that  there  is  such  a  thing 
as  community  life,  the  life  that  all  the 
people  have  in  common ;  that  men  are  bound 
up  together  by  common  interests;  that 
they  are  members  one  of  another;  that 
^^none  of  us  liveth  to  himself,  and  none 
dieth  to  himself."  The  conviction  became 
strong  that  the  church  should  take  account 
of  this  community  life  of  which  the  indi- 
vidual  is   a  part;   that  it  should  concern 

[23] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


itself  not  only  for  men,  but  for  man;  that 
it  should  serve  the  whole  community,  and 
that  nothing  should  be  foreign  to  the  church 
or  ignored  by  it  that  in  any  way  concerns 
the  common  life  of  the  people. 

This  conviction  did  not  detract  from  my 
estimate  of  the  importance  of  the  spiritual, 
or  of  the  individual.  I  still  regarded  the 
spiritual  part  of  a  man  as  his  most  essential 
part.  It  was  still  plain  that  we  have  to  deal 
with  men  as  individuals,  but  I  recognized 
them  also  in  their  organic  relation  to  the 
whole  life  of  the  community.  Not  only 
were  the  men's  souls  to  be  saved,  but  the  men 
themselves  were  to  be  saved.  Not  only 
were  the  men  to  be  saved  and  lifted  up  to  a 
better  life,  but  the  whole  community  was  to 
be  saved,  and  the  community  life  was  to  be 
uplifted  and  placed  on  a  higher  plane. 

Out  of  these  convictions,  which  grew 
more  and  more  positive,  came  the  vision 
whose  fulfilment  is  the  subject  of  this  story. 

[24] 


Ill 

HOW  THE  VISION  CAME 

THE  genesis  of  a  vision  is  always  inter- 
esting, though  often  obscure.  On 
one  day  a  certain  side  of  life  is  a  blank. 
There  is  no  outlook,  no  hint  of  the  coming 
brightness.  On  another  day  that  side  of  life 
is  made  all  radiant  and  glorious  by  a  vision, 
clear  and  definite,  that  beckons  on  to  future 
achievement.  Sometimes  it  comes  sud- 
denly, like  Peter's  vision  when  he  was  upon 
the  housetop  in  Joppa;  and  sometimes  it 
dawns  gradually,  and  little  by  little  paints 
itself  in  beautiful  colors  upon  the  sky  of 
one's  inner  consciousness.  As  remarked  in 
a  previous  chapter,  a  conviction  is  the  egg 
from  which  the  vision  comes ;  but  the  tgg  is 
only  dead  and  formless  matter  until  it  is 
brooded  over  and  warmed  into  life.     So  a 

[25] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


conviction  may  be  strong  and  positive,  but  it 
may  exist  for  a  long  time,  formless,  lifeless, 
and  useless,  until  it  is  quickened  into  vitality 
by  the  brooding  spirit  of  a  man,  and  thus  be- 
comes an  active  and  inspiring  force.  So  it 
may  be  profitable  and  necessary  to  the 
proper  understanding  of  this  story  to  tell 
how  the  vision  came. 

For  fifteen  years  I  had  been  working 
away  in  my  country  parish.  They  had  been 
happy  years  of  glad,  harmonious  work.  I 
was  satisfied  with  my  job.  Though  remote 
from  the  great  centers  of  population,  in  a 
small  village,  and  with  people  of  very  mod- 
est means,  that  restless  feeling  that  spoils  the 
peace  and  mars  the  work  of  so  many  min- 
isters had  been  absent.  My  people  were  of 
the  strong  and  sturdy  sort,  faithful  and  ap- 
preciative beyond  many,  ready  to  cooperate 
in  carrying  out  any  plans  of  work  that  the 
pastor  might  propose.  They  were  splendid 
followers,  responding  quickly  to  all  my  sug- 

[26] 


HOW  THE  VISION   CAME 

gestions.  There  was  a  good  understanding 
between  myself  and  the  people. 

I  was  called  to  pass  through  deep  afflic- 
tion. My  home  was  broken  up  by  a  sudden 
stroke  and  I  was  left  alone.  Into  the  dark 
valley  of  sorrow  my  people  accompanied 
me  as  far  as  they  were  able  to  go,  and  the 
effect  seemed  to  be  to  unite  us  with  bonds 
that  were  very  strong  and  tender.  Every 
home  in  all  the  parish  was  mine.  All  the 
children  belonged  to  me.  There  was  a  chair 
for  me  at  every  fireside  and  a  plate  at  every 
table. 

But  as  the  years  went  by  there  came  some 
tempting  opportunities  to  engage  in  work 
elsewhere.  I  was  not  without  my  ambitions 
and  aspirations.  I  wanted  to  fill  out  the  full 
measure  of  my  ability  and  do  my  best  work. 
And  when  some  opportunities  came  that 
made  the  little  country  parish  seem  by  com- 
parison rather  small  and  meager,  I  was  not 
altogether  proof  against  them.    To  become 

[27] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 

assistant  pastor  in  a  famous  church  in  a 
large  city — to  take  up  the  work  of  general 
missionary  for  a  whole  state  seemed  to 
promise  fields  of  usefulness  so  rich  and  large 
that  they  made  a  strong  appeal  to  the  best 
there  was  in  me,  and  perhaps  also  to  the 
worst.  I  spent  some  weeks  and  months  in 
considering  these  propositions  and  finally 
turned  them  down.  I  could  not  bring  my- 
self to  sever  my  connection  with  those  to 
whom  I  had  been  so  long  and  so  closely 
related.  The  personal  tie  was  too  strong 
and  I  decided  to  remain  with  my  people. 

With  the  decision  came  a  thorough  heart- 
searching.  It  marked  a  turning-point  in  my 
spiritual  history.  I  was  impressed  with  the 
thought  that  if  it  was  God's  will  that  I 
should  remain  in  my  present  work,  it  must 
be  for  a  special  purpose.  Things  could  not 
be  in  the  future  as  they  had  been  in  the  past. 
It  would  be  criminal  to  turn  down  a  larger 
work  for  one  that  was  small  unless  there 

[28] 


HOW  THE  VISION   CAME 

were  good  and  sufficient  reasons  for  doing 
so.  If  it  was  the  Lord's  will  that  I  should 
remain  in  that  country  parish,  there  must  be 
some  work  there  that  it  was  worth  while  for 
me  to  do,  some  work  that  in  a  proper  degree, 
at  least,  would  approach  in  importance  the 
large  proposition  made  by  the  city  and  the 
state.  What  was  the  work?  Was  there  any- 
thing to  be  done  among  those  hills  and  in 
those  rapidly  disappearing  forests  that 
could  fire  a  man's  ambitions  and  satisfy  his 
high  aspirations? 

Just  here  the  vision  came.  At  first  a 
whole  township  was  revealed  as  a  possible 
parish,  with  every  family  tributary  to  the 
church,  and  the  church  performing  a  valu- 
able ministry  for  them  all.  The  vision  ex- 
panded until  it  took  in  another  township, 
and  parts  of  three  or  four  more.  It  became 
plain  that  almost  half  a  county  was  tributary 
to  the  church,  that  five  hundred  families 
and  twenty-five  hundred  people  were  wait- 

[29] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


ing  for  its  ministry.  It  dawned  upon  my 
mental  vision  that  I  was  called  upon  to  be 
the  pastor  of  all  these  people,  for  five  or  six 
miles  in  every  direction,  that  the  Benzonia 
church  was  responsible  for  them  all,  that 
they  had  a  right  to  look  to  us  for  service 
and  help,  and  that  if  we  failed  to  give  it  we 
should  be  unfaithful  to  our  Master  and  rec- 
reant to  our  trust.  Then  I  said:  "Here 
is  something  worth  doing.  Here  may  be 
wrought  out  an  experiment  in  country 
evangelization  and  rural  betterment  that 
may  help  to  arrest  the  downward  trend  that 
has  become  so  alarming  in  these  latter 
days.  It  was  for  this  that  God  has  kept 
me  here.  If  I  can  make  this  vision  a  reality, 
I  need  not  pine  for  a  larger  field.  If  I 
can  help  others  to  see  the  vision,  and  in- 
spire them  with  enthusiasm  to  make  it  real 
in  larger  fields  than  mine,  and  in  many 
parts  of  our  country,  I  shall  never  regret 
that  I  stayed  by  the  stuff."    The  vision  came 

[30] 


HOW  THE  VISION  CAME 

as  a  compensation.  It  was  the  reward  that 
God  gave  for  following  his  leading  along 
those  ways  where  natural  inclinations  would 
not  have  disposed  me  to  go.  God  wants  us 
to  do  our  best  and  largest  work.  He  never 
calls  us  to  a  smaller  work.  If  he  bids  us 
walk  along  a  humble  path  and  go  in  an 
obscure  way,  we  shall  find  our  true  life- 
work  there. 

The  church  had  for  many  years  been 
much  interested  in  both  home  and  foreign 
missions.  I  preached  frequently  upon  the 
subject,  and  kept  it  constantly  before  the 
people.  Regular  collections  were  taken  for 
missionary  objects,  and  the  Every  Member 
Canvass  plan  had  long  been  in  operation. 
The  response  was  always  general  and  lib- 
eral. In  fact,  those  who  were  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  churches  of  the  state  have 
often  said  that  in  proportion  to  its  resources, 
its  gifts  were  larger  than  those  of  any  other 
church.     Not  only  did  they  give  money, 

[31] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


but  they  also  gave  their  sons  and  daughters 
to  carry  the  gospel  to  less  favored  regions. 
Many  of  the  young  women  of  the  church 
had  gone  to  teach  in  home  mission  schools. 
And  there  came  a  beautiful  summer  Sab- 
bath when  a  favorite  niece,  brought  up  in 
my  home,  and  an  active  and  useful  member 
of  the  church,  beloved  by  all,  with  solemn 
services  in  the  little  church  on  the  hilltop 
was  consecrated  to  the  foreign  work  and  sent 
forth  with  the  prayers  and  blessings  of  all 
the  people  to  represent  them  among  the 
awakening  millions  of  China. 

As  I  was  sitting  in  my  study  one  day 
pondering  upon  these  things,  the  absurdity 
of  the  situation  came  over  me  all  at  once. 
"Here  we  are  gathering  money  to  send  our 
sons  and  daughters  to  the  distant  parts  of 
the  earth,  but  we  are  doing  absolutely  noth- 
ing for  scores  of  families  that  are  almost 
within  the  sound  of  our  church-bell.  We 
feel  some  responsibility  for  the  millions  of 

[32] 


HOW  THE  VISION  CAME 

people  of  other  lands  whom  we  have  never 
seen,  and  never  shall  see,  but  we  have  not 
felt  very  much  responsibility  for  those  who 
are  separated  from  us  by  only  a  few  miles. 
We  are  anxious  to  give  the  gospel  to  the 
colored  people,  the  Chinese,  and  to  those 
of  alien  races;  but  we  have  felt  no  such 
anxiety  for  those  of  our  own  race  who  are 
not  so  very  far  away.  There  are  many  fam- 
ilies and  hundreds  of  people  within  five  or 
six  miles  of  our  church  that  are  practically 
without  the  gospel,  as  truly  as  are  the 
Chinese  or  the  South  Sea  Islanders.  We 
have  made  no  systematic  effort  to  interest 
them  in  these  things.  We  have  given  them 
no  reason  to  believe  that  we  are  drawn 
out  toward  them  with  Christlike  motives. 
Surely  there  must  be  something  wrong  in 
our  calculations."  Then  I  heard  the  Master 
say,  ^^These  ye  ought  to  have  done,  and  not 
to  have  left  the  other  undone." 

And  then  came  the  vision  of  ''The  Larger 

[33] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


Parish."  I  saw  the  church  reaching  out  its 
hand  and  touching  tenderly  but  effectively 
all  the  people  in  the  surrounding  country. 
I  saw  the  church  feeling  some  responsibility 
for  every  family,  and  counting  them  all  as 
within  the  bounds  of  its  parish.  I  saw  every 
family  in  all  that  wide  region  as  tributary 
to  the  church.  I  saw  the  church  making 
systematic  plans  to  carry  the  gospel  to  all 
these  outlying  neighborhoods.  I  began  to 
think  of  all  those  people  as  my  parishioners 
as  truly  as  were  those  who  lived  near  the 
church  and  were  members  of  it.  And  so  the 
vision  dawned  upon  me  of  the  Larger  Par- 
ish. In  my  own  mind  I  annexed  all  the  sur- 
rounding country  and  began  to  make  plans 
for  the  evangelization  and  helping  of  all  the 
people  who  dwelt  therein.  So  under  the 
stimulus  of  foreign  missions  the  vision  came 
of  the  work  that  should  be  done  and  could 
be  done  nearer  home. 

And  it  may  be  well  to  add  that  since  the 

[34] 


HOW  THE  VISION  CAME 

work  of  the  Larger  Parish  began,  the  con- 
tributions to  foreign  missions  have  more 
than  doubled.  There  are  those  all  over  this 
wide  territory  who  knew  little  and  cared 
less  about  missions  three  years  ago,  but  who 
now  are  eager  to  make  some  contribution 
to  the  support  of  the  missionary  in  China, 
half  of  whose  salary  our  Church  is  pledged 
to  provide. 

And  so  the  vision  came,  from  above  as  all 
good  visions  do,  but  it  came  while  walking 
in  the  pathway  of  duty,  in  the  unfolding  of 
a  larger  experience.  He  who  follows  the 
dawning  light  will  see  the  vision. 


[35] 


IV 

HOW  THE  VISION  BECAME  A 
REALITY 

THE  chief  value  of  visions  is  in  their 
fulfilment.  A  visionary  man  is  one 
who  sees  but  does  not  do.  He  has  revela- 
tions of  splendid  possibilities,  but  they  do 
not  materialize.  The  sky  of  his  inner  con- 
sciousness is  all  painted  over  with  beautiful 
pictures,  but  those  designs  never  get  on  the 
canvas  or  into  the  marble  or  find  their  fulfil- 
ment in  flesh  and  blood.  The  most  elabo- 
rate plans  and  specifications  will  not  shelter 
a  family  nor  constitute  a  home.  They  must 
be  embodied  in  brick  and  stone  and  timber 
in  order  to  make  them  valuable.  Only  the 
concreting  of  ideals  can  save  the  vision- 
gazer  from  becoming  a  visionary. 

It  is  always  interesting  and  instructive  to 
trace  the  process  by  which  a  vision  is  made 

[36] 


THE  VISION  A  REALITY 

real.  Often  the  pathway  to  the  goal  is  ob- 
scure, difBcult,  and  tedious,  but  it  is  worth 
while  to  follow  it.  This  chapter  will  be  an 
endeavor  to  trace  the  process  by  which  the 
vision  of  the  Larger  Parish  became  a  real- 
ity. 

I  had  a  clear  apprehension  of  two  things 
— the  work  to  be  done,  and  the  instrument 
by  which  it  must  be  accomplished ;  but  just 
how  the  instrument  was  to  accomplish  the 
work  was  not  so  evident.  Here  was  the 
church,  and  here  were  the  people;  but  how 
could  they  be  brought  together  to  their 
mutual  advantage?  I  had  been  a  very  busy 
man  for  years.  My  time  had  been  fully 
occupied  and  I  had  not  supposed  it  possible 
to  take  more  work.  How  was  I  to  multiply 
my  activities  many  fold  and  still  be  effi- 
cient? The  church  had  been  active  and 
aggressive.  It  had  been  doing  large  things. 
In  the  opinion  of  some  it  had  been  straining 
itself  beyond  reasonable  limits  in  carrying 

[37] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


on  its  work.  How  could  it  quadruple  the 
size  of  its  parish  by  annexing  all  the  terri- 
tory within  a  radius  of  five  miles  in  every 
direction,  and  increase  its  constituency  sev- 
eral times  over.  Would  it  not  be  swamped 
by  its  acquisitions?  Would  it  not  be  over- 
whelmed by  the  number  and  greatness  of 
its  obligations  and  responsibilities?  It  had 
not  adequately  ministered  to  all  the  people 
in  its  smaller  parish.  How  would  it  be 
when  its  boundaries  were  so  greatly  in- 
creased? 

These  and  many  other  doubtful  questions 
presented  themselves,  and  the  answers  were 
not  at  hand.  But  there  were  the  outlying 
neighborhoods;  without  consulting  them  I 
had  annexed  them  to  my  parish.  There 
was  the  church ;  without  asking  its  consent, 
in  my  own  mind  I  had  multiplied  its  work 
and  increased  its  burdens  many  fold.  I  had 
a  task  with  the  people  to  make  them  willing 
to  be  annexed ;  with  the  church,  to  lead  it  to 

[38] 


THE  VISION  A  REALITY 

accept  its  heavier  burdens  and  its  larger 
responsibilities;  and  a  still  greater  task  to 
bring  the  church  and  the  people  into  such 
relations  that  the  work  should  be  accom- 
plished.   How  did  I  go  about  my  task? 

I.  The  first  thing  to  be  done  was  to  make 
a  survey  of  the  field.  I  began  to  think  of  all 
the  twenty-five  hundred  people  in  this 
Larger  Parish  as  belonging  to  me.  I  felt  a 
measure  of  responsibility  for  them  all.  We, 
as  a  church  and  pastor,  must  do  something 
for  them  all,  and  in  order  to  do  it,  we  must 
know  them  all.  So  I  started  out  to  visit  all 
the  families  in  this  wide  territory.  Many 
of  them,  of  course,  I  knew  already.  But 
many  that  were  more  remote  I  had  not 
touched  closely,  though  in  my  fifteen  years' 
pastorate  there  were  few  who  had  not  some 
acquaintance  with  me.  I  tramped  around 
over  the  whole  parish,  living  with  the 
people,  often  being  absent  from  my  home 
for  two  or  three  days  at  a  time,  until  there 

[39] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


was  scarcely  a  home  in  all  that  region  in 
which  I  was  a  stranger.  This  was  most 
delightful  and  rewarding  work.  There 
was  a  welcome  for  me  everywhere.  Al- 
most without  exception  the  people  seemed 
pleased  to  come  in  touch  with  the  represen- 
tative of  the  church.  Weary  of  body^  but 
glad  of  heart,  I  laid  myself  down  at  night 
under  the  shelter  of  some  hospitable  farm- 
er's roof  after  having  spent  the  evening  in 
friendly  conversation  with  him  and  his  fam- 
ily. Such  an  opportunity  to  get  up  close  to 
people  is  worth  a  score  of  sermons. 

This  visiting  tour  occupied  many  weeks — 
in  fact  a  large  part  of  the  autumn  months 
was  spent  in  this  way,  and  in  many  desirable 
things  more  was  accomplished  in  those  three 
months  than  had  been  done  in  the  fifteen 
previous  years.  I  came  to  know  the  outside 
people  as  I  had  never  known  them  before. 
My  touch  with  them  was  warmer  and  closer. 
I  came  to  think  of  them  in  a  different  way. 

[40] 


THE  VISION  A  REALITY 

My  interest  in  them  was  more  definite  and 
more  intelligent.  I  came  to  understand  the 
field — to  know  its  extent,  its  difficulties,  and 
its  encouragements — and  so  I  was  prepared 
to  grapple  with  the  task  God  had  given  me. 
The  effect  upon  myself  of  these  tours 
among  the  people  was  most  salutary.  Aside 
from  the  information  that  I  gained,  there 
was  an  even  greater  gain  in  sympathy,  in 
understanding,  and  in  the  inspiration  and 
enthusiasm  that  came  into  my  own  soul.  I 
usually  made  these  apostolic  tours  on  foot. 
I  would  start  out  in  the  morning  with  my 
staff  in  hand  with  a  general  route  previously 
marked  out.  If  I  saw  a  man  plowing  in  the 
field,  I  would  sit  down  with  him  on  the 
plow-beam  while  his  horses  were  resting, 
and  have  a  good  talk  about  his  farm,  his 
home,  the  matters  of  interest  in  the  com- 
munity, and  there  was  almost  always  a  good 
opportunity  to  get  in  a  few  words  about  the 
things  of  the  Kingdom.    Then  at  the  dinner 

[41] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


or  the  supper  hour,  when  all  the  family 
were  together,  there  was  a  chance  to  get  into 
the  home  life,  and  to  be  for  the  time  a  part 
of  the  family  circle.  I  found  that  when  I 
met  the  people,  not  as  a  minister,  but  as  a 
man  and  a  friend,  there  was  always  a  hearty 
and  a  glad  response,  and  it  was  easy  to  secure 
a  sympathetic  hearing  for  my  projects  and 
plans.  There  was  much  gained  in  establish- 
ing such  close  relations  with  the  people. 
Without  such  a  basis,  the  work  of  the  larger 
parish  could  hardly  have  been  successfully 
carried  on. 

2.  My  task  with  the  church,  in  bringing 
it  to  get  my  point  of  view,  to  see  the  vision 
as  I  saw  it,  and  to  cooperate  in  making  it  a 
reality,  was  not  difficult.  They  were  ready 
for  the  larger  work — at  least,  they  were 
ready  to  be  made  ready.  All  they  needed 
was  light  and  leading.  This  I  undertook 
to  give.  I  told  them  my  vision  of  the 
Larger  Parish.     I  held  it  up  before  them 

[42] 


THE  VISION  A  REALITY 

continually,  preaching  it  on  the  Sabbath, 
and  talking  about  it  in  the  prayer-meeting. 
I  described  the  situation  as  it  had  been  re- 
vealed to  me  in  my  apostolic  tramps.  From 
week  to  week  I  could  see  the  kindling  flame 
of  enthusiasm  in  the  congregation.  There 
was  evidently  a  rising  tide  of  interest  in  the 
wider  work.  The  people  began  to  see  the 
reasonableness  of  it.  They  began  to  feel 
some  sense  of  responsibility  for  it,  some  joy 
and  hope  as  the  possibility  of  doing  it  began 
to  dawn  upon  them. 

I  believe  that  the  rank  and  file  of  our 
churches  are  more  ready  to  march  forth  to 
larger  service  than  most  of  us  have  thought. 
There  is  really  more  willingness  to  take  up 
new  tasks  and  to  engage  in  aggressive  enter- 
prises than  they  have  had  credit  for.  The 
people  want  something  to  do.  They  want 
a  work  that  is  worth  while.  Many  churches 
are  languishing  for  a  job  which  they  may 
apprehend  and  accept — for  something  large 

[43] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


enough  and  difficult  enough  to  challenge 
their  powers  and  kindle  their  enthusiasm. 
And  when  a  proposition  is  made  to  them 
that  seems  sane  and  sensible,  when  they  can 
have  confidence  in  their  leaders,  they  are 
generally  ready  to  fall  in  line  and  to  march 
forward  with  firm  and  steady  tread.  That 
was  the  case  with  this  particular  church, 
and  they  have  stood  behind  the  work  of  the 
Larger  Parish  from  the  first  in  solid 
phalanx.  There  have  been  no  kickers,  no 
knockers.  In  all  this  work  I  have  had  the 
satisfaction  of  knowing  that  the  people  were 
with  me.  They  have  been  helpers  all  the 
way  and  not  hinderers. 

3.  But  how  should  we  begin?  How  can 
we  move  out  into  this  Larger  Parish  and 
get  hold  of  this  greater  work?  In  some  way 
we  must  be  something  to  all  these  people. 
We  must  find  a  way  by  which  the  church 
may  make  itself  felt  as  a  force  in  all  these 
five  hundred  homes.     But  how?    Well,  I 

[44] 


THE  VISION  A  REALITY 

began  to  hold  services  in  the  schoolhouses 
around.  I  could  at  least  hold  one  meeting 
a  week  in  these  out-stations  in  addition  to 
my  regular  duties.  That  seemed  a  very 
small  beginning,  but  it  was  a  beginning.  It 
was  the  entering  wedge  to  the  larger  work 
that  followed.  On  Wednesday  nights  some 
of  my  people  would  take  me  to  these  more 
distant  points,  where  I  was  almost  invari- 
ably greeted  by  a  good  and  attentive  congre- 
gation. I  had  no  conveyance  of  my  own, 
and  of  this  I  was  glad,  for  it  gave  an  excuse 
to  call  upon  my  people  for  transportation, 
and  gave  them  a  chance  to  have  a  part  in 
the  work;  for  I  considered  that  the  success 
of  the  work  depended,  not  so  much  upon 
what  I  did  or  said,  as  upon  the  attitude  that 
the  people  of  the  church  took  toward  it. 
And  the  presence  of  the  men  with  me  in 
these  services  greatly  increased  the  effective- 
ness of  the  efforts.  I  was  a  preacher  and  I 
was  simply  "on  my  job."    They  represented 

[45] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


the  church  and  proclaimed  to  the  people  in 
the  outlying  regions  its  attitude  toward 
them.  In  some  of  the  neighborhoods  there 
were  no  schoolhouses,  and  the  services  were 
held  in  private  homes.  In  this  simple  way 
the  work  began  to  grow. 

4.  At  first  I  had  no  definite  thought  of 
how  the  work  would  develop.  I  simply 
started  out  to  do  what  I  could  for  the  people 
in  this  wide  territory.  But  it  soon  became 
evident  that  one  man  would  not  be  able  to 
do  all  the  work  that  was  opening  up  before 
me.  The  need  of  a  helper  began  to  press 
heavily,  but  the  possibility  of  securing  one 
had  not  yet  dawned  upon  me.  The  General 
Missionary  of  the  state  became  interested 
in  the  work,  and  he  was  the  first  one  to  sug- 
gest that  an  Assistant  might  be  secured. 
This  put  new  hope  and  courage  into  my 
heart.  The  matter  was  brought  to  the  atten- 
tion of  the  Superintendent  of  the  state,  and 
he  consulted  with  his  Advisory  Committee. 

[46] 


THE  VISION  A  REALITY 

He  came  upon  the  ground,  and  after  making 
a  thorough  investigation,  agreed  with  the 
General  Missionary  that  a  helper  was  neces- 
sary. He  thought  that  the  work  proposed 
was  legitimate  home  missionary  work,  that 
the  best  way  to  evangelize  the  whole  country 
is  for  each  village  church  to  reach  out  into 
the  country  around  as  far  as  possible,  until 
village  with  village  should  touch  hands  over 
a  region  that  is  adequately  supplied  with 
gospel  privileges. 

The  result  was  that  a  proposition  was 
made  by  the  Superintendent  to  the  church. 
It  was  substantially  this:  that  we  should 
take  into  the  Parish  Grace  Church,  a  small 
Congregational  organization  four  miles  dis- 
tant from  Benzonia,  which  had  been  mori- 
bund for  a  long  time,  with  no  regular  serv- 
ices for  a  number  of  years.  The  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society  would  make  a  grant  of  one 
hundred  dollars  if  Grace  Church  would 
raise  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.    It  was 

[47] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


understood  that  the  Benzonia  Church 
would  raise  the  other  two  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars  that  should  make  out  the  Assistant's 
salary.  This  should  be  the  contribution  of 
the  Benzonia  Church  to  the  Home  Mission- 
ary Society,  but  should  be  returned  to  the 
Benzonia  field  to  be  spent  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Larger  Parish.  This  proposi- 
tion was  brought  before  the  church  at  a  reg- 
ular meeting,  and  by  a  unanimous  vote  it 
was  accepted,  and  so  the  church  in  a  formal 
and  positive  way  committed  itself  to  the 
work  of  the  Larger  Parish. 

The  pastor  wishes  to  make  grateful  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  part  that  the  state 
officers  of  the  Congregational  Conference 
have  had  in  developing  the  Larger  Parish. 
Without  their  cooperation  it  could  never 
have  been  brought  to  its  present  stage  of  de- 
velopment. With  clear  foresight  and  gen- 
erous contributions  they  have  fostered  the 
work,  and  the  success  of  the  experiment  is 

[48] 


THE  VISION  A  REALITY 

largely  due  to  their  sympathetic  interest, 
and  their  wise  and  helpful  efforts.  They 
have  regarded  it  as  the  demonstration  of  a 
method  of  dealing  with  the  country  problem 
that  may,  if  it  proves  successful,  find  wide 
application  throughout  the  state,  and  they 
have  been  glad  to  give  it  their  fostering 
influence  and  their  substantial  aid.  It  is 
possible  that  the  "Larger  Parish  Plan"  may 
furnish  a  most  effective  method  of  home 
missionary  activity. 

5.  But  the  next  thing  was  to  find  the  man 
who,  for  a  salary  of  five  hundred  dollars, 
was  willing  to  undertake  the  work  of  tramp- 
ing over  three  townships,  and  of  becoming 
the  under  pastor  of  twenty-five  hundred 
people.  The  Larger  Parish  was  still  unor- 
ganized. It  was  still  a  rather  indefinite  and 
unrealized  vision.  It  was  clear  that  in  some 
way  gospel  work  must  be  inaugurated  in  all 
that  wide  territory;  but  just  what  form  it 
would  take  was  not  yet  so  clear.    The  Assist- 

[49] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


ant  must  be  a  man  of  initiative  and  executive 
ability.  He  must  be  able  to  strike  out  on 
new  lines  and  to  walk  in  untried  paths. 
There  would  be  plenty  of  hard  work,  much 
need  of  tact  and  wisdom,  and  the  absolute 
demand  for  consecration.  With  these  ag- 
gressive qualities  he  must  also  be  able  to  act 
under  the  direction  of  another,  and  to  carry 
on  this  work  in  harmony  with  the  pastor  of 
the  church. 

This  would  seem  to  be  a  rare  combina- 
tion, and  the  task  of  finding  a  man  who 
would  fit  into  this  rather  peculiar  place 
seemed  very  great — especially  so,  since  a 
mistake  or  failure  at  the  beginning  of  the 
work  might  put  it  back  indefinitely,  or  spoil 
it  entirely.  But  with  unexpected  prompt- 
ness the  very  man  was  found  who  most  fully 
met  the  need.  He  had  finished  a  high  school 
course,  had  taught  two  terms  in  a  country 
school,  had  spent  some  time  in  the  lumber 
and   construction   camps   of   the   northern 

[so] 


THE  VISION  A  REALITY 

Michigan  and  Wisconsin  woods.  He  had 
had  a  wide  and  a  varied  experience  for  one 
so  young  in  almost  everything  except  Chris- 
tian work  and  preaching.  In  this  he  was  a 
novice.  None  of  us — not  even  he  himself — 
knew  what  he  could  do.  He  had  but  one 
sermon  to  start  with  and  all  his  powers  were 
untried. 

I  made  out  a  schedule  of  appointments 
for  him.  At  first  there  were  seven  neighbor- 
hoods where  he  was  to  hold  services,  preach- 
ing at  the  Grace  Church  every  Sunday 
morning,  and  at  the  other  places  as  often  as 
he  could  get  around.  His  regular  program 
on  Sunday  was  three  sermons,  a  tramp  of 
from  twelve  to  twenty  miles,  with  such  occa- 
sional "lifts"  as  he  might  from  time  to  time 
receive.  Several  days  of  each  week  he  spent 
among  the  people,  sharing  their  hospitality, 
and  entering  into  their  life.  For  two  and  a 
half  years  he  lived  this  strenuous  life,  organ- 
izing the  work  along  various  lines,  reducing 

[51] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


the  chaos  to  order,  getting  close  to  the 
people,  and  making  a  large  and  warm  place 
for  himself  and  his  work  through  all  the 
wide  Parish.  He  made  good,  and  at  the  end 
of  that  time  he  was  in  demand  as  student 
pastor  in  more  than  one  college  town,  and 
went  to  pursue  his  college  course,  paying  his 
expenses  by  giving  his  services  as  assistant 
pastor  in  a  large  college  church. 

As  the  work  developed  and  the  bound- 
aries of  the  Larger  Parish  have  extended  it 
was  found  necessary  to  employ  a  second  As- 
sistant, and  three  men  found  more  work  to 
do  than  they  could  fully  cover.  The  rela- 
tions between  the  pastor  and  his  two  helpers 
are  very  close  and  happy. 

6.  Of  significant  importance  are  some 
achievements  in  denominational  comity 
that  have  greatly  helped  the  work  of  the 
Larger  Parish.  I  had  observed  that  in 
many  parts  of  our  country  zeal  for  the  de- 
nomination had  outrun  love  for  the  King- 

[52] 


THE  VISION  A  REALITY 

dom,  and  I  despaired  of  doing  such  a  work 
as  ought  to  be  done  in  the  region  round 
about,  unless  there  could  be  some  new  aline- 
ment  of  the  Christian  forces.  In  many 
places  churches  have  been  multiplied  to  the 
great  detriment  of  the  cause  which  they  are 
supposed  to  represent. 

It  is  true  that  some  portions  of  our  cities 
are  overchurched,  but  the  evil  of  it  is  not 
so  much  felt  because  of  the  unlimited  mate- 
rial to  work  upon.  It  is  in  the  country  and 
in  the  small  towns  and  villages  that  the 
greatest  harm  is  done.  There  is  many  a 
country  neighborhood  where  one  church 
would  thrive  and  be  a  great  blessing;  but 
two  churches  spoil  the  community  com- 
pletely, so  far  as  the  interests  of  the  King- 
dom are  concerned.  Oftentimes,  too  many 
churches  are  worse  than  too  few.  If  there 
are  no  churches,  there  is  a  chance  for  some 
one  to  come  in  and  start  a  successful  work. 
But  if  there  are  too  many,  the  forces  are  so 

[53] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


divided  that  none  of  them  can  do  a  vigorous 
work,  they  all  live  at  '^a  poor  dying  rate," 
an  unholy  competition  is  almost  unavoid- 
able, and  by  their  fruitless  struggle  they 
defeat  the  very  object  for  which  they  exist. 
A  minister  who  had  recently  gone  to  a  new 
field  replied  to  the  inquiry,  how  he  was  get- 
ting on  :  ^'I  am  doing  very  well  now.  I  only 
have  two  churches  to  contend  against  in  my 
new  field.  I  had  three  before."  The  people 
of  the  world,  looking  at  the  situation  of  the 
overchurched  community,  regard  it  with 
contempt,  it  is  so  illogical  and  unreason- 
able. This  evil  is  recognized  by  all,  and 
will  not  much  longer  be  tolerated  by  those 
who  are  sincerely  interested  in  the  progress 
of  the  Kingdom.  In  fact,  there  is  a  strong 
movement  in  these  days  toward  a  better 
state  of  things. 

A  fine  example  of  what  may  be  done  in 
the  way  of  denominational  comity  when  a 
really  Christian  spirit  prevails  was  shown 

[54] 


THE  VISION  A  REALITY 

in  this  field,  and  it  did  much  to  make  the 
work  of  the  Larger  Parish  possible.  In 
Benzonia  there  was  a  small  Methodist 
organization,  in  addition  to  the  Congrega- 
tional Church  that  had  existed  for  thirty 
years,  but  it  never  got  a  very  strong  foot- 
hold, and  finally  it  was  evident  to  all  that 
it  was  not  needed.  Five  miles  away  there 
was  another  Methodist  church  at  Cham- 
pion Hill,  that  was  really  within  the  terri- 
tory of  the  Larger  Parish.  In  an  adjoining 
county  the  Congregationalists  had  two 
churches  of  about  the  same  grade,  and  sur- 
rounded by  the  work  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  The  representatives  of 
the  two  denominations  got  together,  can- 
vassed the  whole  matter  thoroughly,  and 
were  able  to  come  to  a  unanimous  and  cor- 
dial decision  that  was  satisfactory  to  both 
sides.  The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
in  Benzonia  was  dropped,  and  the  Cham- 
pion Hill  Church  became  Congregational. 

[55] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


And  the  two  Congregational  churches  in 
the  adjoining  county  became  Methodist, 
thus  leaving  a  clear  field  in  each  county  for 
each  denomination,  much  to  the  advantage 
of  both.  It  is  understood  that  no  v^ork  is 
to  be  undertaken  by  either  denomination  in 
the  territory  thus  surrendered. 

It  was  comparatively  easy  to  work  the 
matter  through  with  the  officials,  but  there 
was  some  doubt  whether  the  churches 
themselves  could  be  brought  to  consent  to 
a  change.  They  were  visited  by  two  repre- 
sentatives, one  from  each  denomination,  the 
whole  matter  was  fully  explained,  showing 
how  much  better  the  work  could  be  cared 
for  under  the  new  arrangement,  and, 
though  there  was  some  reluctance  on  the 
part  of  some  who  were  strongly  attached  to 
their  old  church  associations,  most  of  the 
members  accepted  the  situation  and  cheer- 
fully made  the  change.  After  trying  it  for 
a  year  they  all  seemed  well  satisfied  with 

[56] 


THE  VISION  A  REALITY 

their  new  relations,  and  new  life  and  vigor 
has  come  into  all  the  work. 

The  property  interests  involved  in  the 
exchange  were  adjusted  in  a  very  happy 
way.  All  the  four  churches  had  houses  of 
worship,  and  some  of  them  had  parsonages. 
A  commission  was  appointed  to  appraise 
the  property,  consisting  of  two  members 
each  from  the  Congregational  and  Meth- 
odist Churches  of  Traverse  City.  They 
went  together,  examined  all  the  holdings 
and  brought  in  a  report.  The  two  Meth- 
odist men  thought  the  Congregationalists 
ought  to  give  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars 
to  boot.  The  two  Congregational  men 
thought  the  Methodists  ought  to  give  two 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  So  they  agreed 
to  trade  even,  and  all  parties  were  satisfied. 
This  gives  the  Congregationalists  undis- 
puted jurisdiction  throughout  all  the  terri- 
tory of  the  Larger  Parish.  In  all  that 
region  they  are  without  competition,  with 

[57] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


the  exception  of  a  small  Disciple  church  in 
one  corner  of  the  field,  which  divides  up 
the  work  of  one  neighborhood  to  its  great 
disadvantage.  There  are  a  good  many 
Methodist  people  living  within  the  bounds 
of  the  Larger  Parish,  but  most  of  them  are 
allying  themselves  with  the  church  that  is 
doing  the  work,  and  the  same  is  true  of  the 
Congregationalists.  They  are  now  well 
satisfied  with  the  arrangement. 

So  we  may  trace  the  steps  by  which  the 
vision  became  reality.  The  work  has  been 
a  gradual  development  from  the  very  first, 
one  step  leading  to  another,  often  with  no 
more  light  than  was  sufficient  for  the  single 
step. 


[S8] 


THE   METHODS  OF  THE   LARGER 

PARISH 

PRACTICAL  methods  that  can  be  suc- 
cessfully worked  constitute  the  great 
need  in  any  enterprise.  The  real  measure  of 
the  value  of  any  plan  or  scheme  is  found  in 
what  it  accomplishes.  It  may  look  well — 
the  vision  may  be  enticing — but  will  it 
really  do  the  business?  If,  after  a  fair  trial, 
achievements  sufficient  to  justify  the  effort 
do  not  appear,  the  scheme,  the  method,  the 
vision,  however  promising  it  may  have 
seemed,  must  be  discarded.  A  mill  that 
does  not  turn  out  lumber  soon  goes  upon 
the  junk  heap.  So  a  plan  that  does  not 
bring  results  will  soon  be  relegated  to  the 
limbo  of  unpractical  and  useless  things. 
Of  course  it  requires  time  fairly  to  test 
a  plan,   an  enterprise,  or  a  method.     An 

[59] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


important  experiment  cannot  be  finished  in 
a  day.  But  after  three  years  it  is  time  to 
look  for  some  proofs  of  success.  What 
have  we  to  show  after  working  three  years 
that  will  justify  the  methods  that  have  been 
used?  What  methods  have  been  em- 
ployed? How  have  they  worked,  and 
what  have  they  accomplished? 

Nothing  has  been  finished.  The  work  is  a 
growth,  and  is  still  in  the  process  of  develop- 
ment. We  are  all  the  while  finding  some- 
thing more  to  do  for  the  people,  and  larger 
possibilities  of  service  are  opening  up  before 
us  continually.  But  it  may  be  said  to  have 
passed  beyond  the  experimental  stage. 
Nobody  looks  upon  it  any  longer  as  simply 
an  experiment.  It  is  a  practical  plan  in 
successful  operation.  The  church  has  come 
to  have  a  well-defined  policy.  The  people 
have  accepted  the  idea  of  the  Larger  Parish 
and  are  cooperating  heartily  in  carrying  it 
out.    The  work  has  been  organized  in  re- 

[60] 


METHODS  OF  LARGER  PARISH 

spect  to  various  community  human  inter- 
ests, and  is  moving  on  with  a  fair  degree 
of  satisfaction.  We  are  now  in  a  position 
to  deliver  some  goods — at  least  enough  to 
prove  that  we  are  working  a  practical 
scheme;  enough,  as  we  believe,  to  be  a  sure 
prophecy  of  greater  results  in  the  future. 

I.  Religious  and  Evangelistic  Progress 

First,  I  will  speak  of  some  methods  used 
and  some  things  done  that  show  religious 
advance.  This  must  be  the  crucial  test  of 
any  church  work.  It  must  be  work  for  the 
kingdom  of  God.  It  must  bring  people 
into  harmony  with  God  and  his  truth,  it 
must  line  them  up  on  the  side  of  Jesus 
Christ,  or  it  cannot  be  said  to  be  successful, 
however  many  other  desirable  things  it  may 
accomplish.  It  is  not  easy  to  tabulate  spir- 
itual results.  Any  showing  that  can  be 
made  on  paper  may  be  more  than  the  truth 
or  less  than  the  truth.    Reports  of  organiza- 

[6i] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


tions  and  methods  and  activities  may  be 
misleading.  The  most  that  they  can  do  is 
to  approximate  the  truth.  And  yet,  that  is 
the  only  way  we  have  of  reporting  spiritual 
results.  The  results  of  religious  work  must 
appear  in  the  lives  of  the  people,  in  the 
Christian  sentiment  of  the  community,  in 
the  upward  trend  of  all  things  that  make 
for  righteousness  and  for  the  establishment 
and  prevalence  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 
These  things  cannot  be  definitely  reported, 
but  some  things  can  be  mentioned  that  will 
indicate  progress. 

The  work  has  been  fairly  well  organized 
throughout  the  whole  parish  and  is  moving 
steadily  forward  in  definite  directions. 
There  are  now  twelve  points  where  regular 
Sunday  services  are  held  in  this  territory, 
which  comprises  one  whole  township  and 
portions  of  five  others.  These  services  are 
held  in  one  church,  six  chapels,  four 
schoolhouses,  and  one  private  home.    Other 

[62] 


METHODS  OF  LARGER  PARISH 

points  are  asking  for  services,  but  with  our 
present  force  no  more  work  can  be  under- 
taken. These  preaching  points  are  so  ar- 
ranged that  no  family,  with  the  exception 
of  a  few  who  live  in  one  remote  corner  of 
the  parish,  need  go  more  than  a  mile  and 
a  half  to  find  a  place  of  worship.  The  ag- 
gregate attendance  on  these  services  will 
average  not  far  from  six  hundred,  in  a 
population  of  twenty-five  hundred — about 
one  fourth  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  parish 
being  present  with  some  degree  of  regu- 
larity. 

There  are  four  organized  churches  in  the 
parish,  at  Benzonia,  Grace,  Champion 
Hill,  and  Eden.  Their  combined  member- 
ship is  about  four  hundred.  When  the 
church  was  organized  at  Eden  last  year, 
thirty  members  were  dismissed  from  the 
Benzonia  Church  to  enter  the  new  organ- 
ization. They  had  long  been  connected 
with  the  Benzonia  Church,  and  it  was  with 

[63] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


some  reluctance  that  they  severed  their  con- 
nection with  the  mother  church.  They 
wished  in  some  way  to  retain  a  relation  to 
the  church  that  had  for  them  so  many 
tender  associations.  So  they  decided  that 
of  their  five  trustees,  two  should  be  chosen 
from  the  old  central  church.  The  two 
churches  at  Grace  and  Champion  Hill  are 
likely  to  follow  suite.  In  that  case,  we  shall 
have  a  group  of  four  churches,  organically 
related,  standing  together  to  do  the  work 
of  the  Larger  Parish.  The  trustees  of  the 
local  church  will  attend  to  all  ordinary 
matters,  but  will  feel  free  to  call  in  the 
other  two  trustees  to  consult  with  them  in 
things  of  special  importance.  The  trustees 
from  the  central  church  will,  of  course,  feel 
a  special  responsibility  for  the  welfare  of 
the  branch  church  with  which  they  are  con- 
nected. This  arrangement  will  unify  all 
the  religious  activities  of  the  parish,  and 
bind  them  up  together  in  one  organic  rela- 

[64] 


METHODS  OF  LARGER  PARISH 

tion.  And  the  churches  that  enter  into  the 
arrangement  will  surrender  none  of  their 
independence  as  Congregational  churches. 
They  will  still  be  absolutely  free  to  control 
their  own  affairs.  It  is  understood  that  the 
office  of  the  trustees  from  the  central 
church  is  largely  advisory.  While  this  is 
something  new  in  Congregationalism,  it 
promises  to  work  well,  and  if  it  does,  it  will 
be  its  own  sufficient  justification. 

Ten  Sunday-schools  are  maintained 
within  the  parish,  with  a  combined  member- 
ship of  about  six  hundred.  Most  of  the 
schools  are  self-sustaining,  and  are  well  able 
to  carry  on  their  own  work  without  outside 
help,  but  some  are  conducted  by  helpers 
who  go  out  from  the  central  church.  The 
schools  at  Benzonia  and  Eden  are  well 
graded,  and  are  conducted  according  to  the 
up-to-date  methods.  The  Benzonia  school 
has  an  average  attendance  of  more  than  one 
hundred  and  fifty,  and  the  music  is  led  by 

[65] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


a  large  orchestra.  The  Eden  school  has 
graduated  two  classes  in  teacher-training, 
and  the  third  one,  with  seventeen  members, 
is  now  at  work.  The  Home  Department 
is  maintained,  and  much  is  made  of  the 
Cradle  Roll.  Conventions  in  connection 
with  the  schools  in  the  two  adjoining  town- 
ships are  held  once  a  quarter,  and  they  are 
doing  much  to  unite  the  Sunday-school 
interests  in  this  region  and  to  promote  team 
work. 

The  clerical  force  that  carries  on  the 
work  throughout  the  parish  is  composed 
of  the  pastor  and  his  two  assistants.  The 
pastor  preaches  twice  on  Sunday,  in  the 
church  at  Benzonia  in  the  morning,  and  in 
the  chapel  at  Beulah,  half  a  mile  distant,  in 
the  evening.  Each  of  the  assistants  preaches 
three  times,  traveling  from  twelve  to  twenty 
miles  in  reaching  their  appointments.  The 
Larger  Parish  naturally  divides  itself  into 
three  parts:  the  North  Parish,  with  two 

[66] 


METHODS  OF  LARGER  PARISH 

churches,  and  two  out-stations,  served  by 
Mr.  Caldwell;  the  South  Parish,' with  one 
church  and  five  out-stations,  served  by  Mr. 
Huck;  and  Benzonia  and  Beulah  in  be- 
tween, served  by  the  pastor,  who  also  has 
the  oversight  of  the  whole  field. 

The  three  pastors  usually  get  together  on 
Mondays,  talk  over  the  work,  compare  ser- 
mons and  discuss  them,  and  spend  part  of 
the  day  in  the  most  delightful  fellowship. 
They  make  frequent  exchanges,  taking  each 
other's  work  for  a  Sunday,  thus  giving  the 
people  a  change,  and  themselves  some 
variety  of  experience,  and  promoting  ac- 
quaintance and  fellowship  throughout  the 
whole  parish.  This  is  a  most  profitable 
combination.  The  older  pastor  helps  the 
younger  men  with  his  wider  experience, 
and  "the  boys"  put  new  life  and  fresh  spir- 
its into  the  heart  of  the  "older  man."  Two 
men,  if  they  are  congenial  and  can  work 
harmoniously    together,    are    worth    more 

.   [67] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


than  double  the  value  of  one  man.  And 
three  men,  joining  their  forces,  increase 
their  efficiency  in  geometrical  ratio.  Many 
a  minister  who  works  away  in  isolation  and 
discouragement  would  have  new  heart  and 
courage  for  his  difficult  task,  if  he  might  be 
closely  asociated  with  one  or  two  congenial 
and  kindred  spirits.  That  is  one  of  the  ad- 
vantages of  the  Larger  Parish  Plan — it 
makes  such  association  and  combination 
possible. 

In  the  autumn  of  191 2  the  pastor  was 
impressed  with  the  thought  that  the 
special  emphasis  for  that  year  should  be 
placed  on  the  evangelistic  phase  of  the 
work.  Thirteen  weeks  in  all  were  spent  in 
holding  special  services  at  six  different 
points.  Two  ministers  from  neighboring 
parishes  assisted.  Much  use  was  made  of 
the  stereopticon.  In  the  out-stations  the 
preaching  was  done  by  the  pastors  in  turn, 
and    there   was    thorough    personal   work. 

[68] 


METHODS  OF  LARGER  PARISH 

Good  results  came  from  these  meetings.  A 
large  number  decided  to  begin  the  Chris- 
tion  life.  About  sixty  new  members  were 
received  into  the  Benzonia  church,  and  as 
many  more  into  the  other  churches  in  the 
parish.  Not  all  of  those  received  were  con- 
verted in  the  special  meetings.  Thirty  of 
those  who  came  into  the  Eden  church  were 
dismissed  from  the  Benzonia  church,  and 
some  others  came  by  letter.  One  of  the 
results  of  these  special  meetings  was  the 
organization  of  the  Eden  church.  The 
hearts  of  the  people  were  drawn  togeth- 
er, the  religious  interest  was  quickened 
throughout  the  whole  territory,  and  the 
idea  of  the  Larger  Parish  came  to  be  more 
generally  accepted. 

Eden  is  a  country  neighborhood  three 
miles  north  of  Benzonia.  The  people  are 
thrifty  farmers  and  fruit  raisers,  and  about 
a  dozen  families  living  there  had  for  many 
years  been   connected  with   the   Benzonia 

[69] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


church,  and  were  among  its  most  faithful 
supporters.  For  twenty-five  or  thirty  years 
a  Sunday-school  had  been  maintained  in 
that  community — one  of  the  best  country 
schools  in  the  state.  A  young  people's 
society  and  a  weekly  prayer-meeting  had 
also  been  kept  up  for  a  long  time.  The 
special  meetings  were  held  in  the  school- 
house  in  the  month  of  February,  amid  the 
stormiest  weather  of  the  winter.  But 
nothing  could  keep  the  people  away.  There 
was  a  deep  interest,  and  a  number  of  pos- 
itive conversions.  It  was  thought  best  to 
organize  a  church.  Thirty  members  were 
dismissed  from  the  Benzonia  church  to 
enter  into  the  new  organization  and  it 
started  with  fifty  charter  members.  Prac- 
tically all  the  religious  elements  of  the  com- 
munity came  together  in  the  new  church 
and  it  was  launched  with  much  rejoicing 
and  enthusiasm.  Under  the  efficient  lead- 
ership of  the  assistant  pastor,  it  has  gone 

[70] 


METHODS  OF  LARGER  PARISH 

steadily  forward,  and  though  the  meetings 
held  are  in  a  schoolhouse  that  is  most  incon- 
venient and  inadequate  for  their  needs,  they 
are  as  dignified  and  churchly  as  many  that 
are  conducted  in  more  appropriate  sur- 
roundings. There  is  a  full  service  of  read- 
ings, responses,  well-prepared  music  by  a 
faithful  choir,  and  the  presence  and  power 
of  God's  Spirit  is  often  strikingly  mani- 
fest in  the  services.  The  recognition  ser- 
vices of  the  Eden  church  were  most  impres- 
sive. The  schoolhouse  was  crowded  to  its 
utmost  capacity.  Nearly  fifty  stood  up  to- 
gether and  entered  into  covenant  relations, 
a  large  number  receiving  the  rite  of  bap- 
tism. The  communion  service  conducted 
by  the  pastor  was  especially  solemn  and 
tender,  and  those  present  will  long  remem- 
ber the  influences  of  that  hour. 

In  a  number  of  cases  the  services  have 
been  held  in  schoolhouses  that  are  incon- 
venient and  inadequate,  and  in  one  instance 

[71] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 

the  only  place  where  the  meetings  could  be 
held  was  a  private  home.  A  movement  is 
on  foot  to  supply  these  places  with  chapels 
that  will  meet  the  needs  of  the  community. 
Last  summer  a  neat  chapel  was  built  at 
Piatt  Lake.  There  is  no  schoolhouse  in 
that  community.  The  children  are  taken 
in  a  bus  to  the  Honor  school,  and  there  was 
no  settled  meeting-place  for  more  than  two 
years,  the  services  being  held  in  turn  from 
house  to  house.  Piatt  Lake  is  somewhat  of 
a  summer  resort,  and  the  visiting  people 
gave  substantial  help  in  the  construction  of 
the  chapel.  It  is  a  convenient  little  build- 
ing, well  furnished,  with  organ  and  stove 
contributed  by  the  Benzonia  church.  There 
being  no  ecclesiastical  organization  in  the 
place,  the  title  of  the  building  is  vested  in 
the  Michigan  State  Conference,  with  the 
understanding  that  when  a  church  is  formed 
it  shall  be  deeded  back.  Since  the  erection 
of  the  chapel  a  fresh  impetus  has  been  given 

[72] 


METHODS  OF  LARGER  PARISH 

to  the  work  in  Piatt  Lake.  At  this  point  no 
regular  religious  services  had  ever  been 
held  until  the  movement  of  the  Larger  Par- 
ish began. 

The  Eden  church  planned  to  erect  a  new 
building  in  the  summer  of  1914,  in  the  form 
of  a  comfortable  chapel  with  basement 
rooms  for  social  purposes.  Early  in  the 
spring  of  1913  the  farmers  set  apart  a  cer- 
tain portion  of  their  land,  the  products  of 
which  should  be  given  for  a  chapel  fund. 
About  fifteen  farmers  entered  into  this  ar- 
rangement, the  children  also  setting  hens 
and  cultivating  garden  patches  for  the  same 
purpose.  On  Thanksgiving  night  of  that 
year  they  had  a  special  service  at  the  school- 
house  to  bring  in  the  returns.  A  neat 
model  of  a  church  was  made  for  the  occa- 
sion and  placed  on  the  desk,  and  after  an 
interesting  program  the  people  filed  past 
the  desk  and  dropped  into  the  model  church 
the  proceeds  of  their  summer's  toil.    It  was 

[73] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


found  to  contain  more  than  two  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars — a  good  starter  for  the 
new  building.  Though  the  resources  of  the 
community  are  limited,  they  are  all  work- 
ing together  with  such  industry  and  en- 
thusiasm that  it  is  probable  that  they  will 
soon  have  a  pleasant  and  convenient  church 
home. 

At  North  Crystal  where  there  is  a  flour- 
ishing Sunday-school  and  where  the  ser- 
vices are  held  in  a  private  home,  the  people 
are  working  hard  to  build  a  little  chapel. 
Here  too  the  resorters,  who  have  their 
cottages  along  the  shore  of  Crystal  Lake, 
are  very  helpful.  In  the  summer  the  meet- 
ings are  held  under  the  trees,  and  large 
crowds  come  together  to  hear  the  gospel 
and  to  join  in  the  songs.  The  Ladies'  Aid 
Society  is  working  hard  and  considerable 
progress  has  been  made  in  collecting  a 
chapel  fund.  Poverty  of  resources  can 
hardly  prevent  the  accomplishment  of  such 

[74] 


METHODS  OF  LARGER  PARISH 

an  enterprise  when  all  the  people  unite  in 
the  effort  so  heartily  and  with  such  a  will- 
ingness to  make  sacrifices  for  the  desired 
end.  The  church  at  Benzonia  has  also  been 
building  an  addition  to  its  house  of  wor- 
ship, adding  one  hundred  sittings  and  nu- 
merous rooms  for  the  accommodation  of 
the  Sunday-school  and  social  work.  One 
would  have  been  considered  rash  indeed 
who  should  have  prophesied  beforehand 
that  in  two  years  in  this  community  of  lim- 
ited resources  so  large  a  sum  could  be  raised 
for  the  purpose  of  providing  accommoda- 
tions for  the  worship  of  God  and  for  com- 
munity and  social  work. 

If  the  amount  of  money  that  people  are 
willing  to  give  for  religious  purposes  is  an 
index  of  their  interest  in  the  Kingdom,  one 
must  conclude  that  there  has  been  a  very 
significant  revival  in  that  respect  through- 
out the  Larger  Parish.  More  means  for 
carrying  on  the  work  are  now  in  sight  than 

[75] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


any  one  would  have  supposed  it  possible  to 
raise  three  years  ago. 

The  salaries  paid  the  pastor  and  his  two 
assistants  are  two  and  a  half  times  as  much 
as  was  paid  to  the  pastor  alone  before  the 
wider  work  was  undertaken.  This,  how- 
ever, is  made  possible  only  through  the  help 
of  the  Home  Missionary  Society.  The  con- 
tributions for  home  and  foreign  missions 
have  more  than  doubled  during  this  period, 
and  the  number  of  contributors  has  in- 
creased more  than  twofold.  If  there  was 
any  hesitation  about  undertaking  the  wider 
work  on  account  of  the  increased  financial 
obligation  involved,  experience  has  shown 
that  it  was  unnecessary.  More  than  twice 
as  much  money  is  raised  on  the  whole  field 
now  than  was  the  case  before  the  wider 
work  began,  and  it  comes  with  just  as  little 
effort.  Nobody  now  objects  to  the  work 
on  financial  grounds.  It  has  paid  for  itself 
in  every  way. 

[76] 


JMETHODS  OF  LARGER  PARISH 

This  experience  leads  me  to  believe  that 
on  almost  every  field  there  are  resources 
sufficient  for  carrying  on  all  the  work  that 
needs  to  be  done  there,  if  only  they  can  be 
reached,  and  I  am  also  convinced  that  an 
active,  aggressive  program  w^ill  be  much 
more  successful  in  developing  the  resources 
than  a  timid  and  conservative  effort  can 
ever  be. 

In  order  to  promote  unity  and  fellowship 
throughout  the  whole  parish,  occasional 
meetings  designed  to  bring  all  the  people 
together  are  held  with  very  good  results. 
Two  or  three  times  during  the  year  all  the 
services  in  the  various  points  are  omitted 
and  the  people  come  together  on  the  beau- 
tiful campus  on  the  Benzonia  hilltop  and 
spend  the  day  in  worship  and  in  social  inter- 
course. The  services  are  held  in  the  shade 
of  the  great  beech  and  maple  trees  that 
crown  the  summit  of  the  hill.  There  is  a 
large  choir  and  orchestra  to  lead  the  music, 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 

some  noted  speaker  from  abroad  preaches 
the  sermon,  and  the  congregation  of  four  or 
five  hundred  is  as  devout  and  attentive  as 
can  be  found  in  any  church  building.  At 
the  close  of  the  service  they  assemble  in 
groups  to  eat  the  lunch  which  they  have 
brought,  the  cof^fee  being  furnished  by  the 
Benzonia  people,  and  they  spend  two  hours 
in  delightful  social  intercourse,  many  old 
friends  and  neighbors  meeting  there  who 
might  not  otherwise  see  each  other  for 
years.  In  the  afternoon  a  platform  meet- 
ing is  held  with  a  number  of  speakers,  and 
as  the  sun  is  sinking  low  in  the  west  the 
people  disperse  and  go  quietly  to  their 
homes,  with  a  larger  outlook,  a  quickened 
community  consciousness,  and  a  fuller  ap- 
preciation of  the  work  of  the  Larger  Parish. 
Last  year  we  had  on  one  Sabbath  "Larger 
Parish  Sunday  School  Rally."  Posters  an- 
nouncing the  meeting  had  been  previously 
circulated.    All  the  ten  schools  of  the  par- 

[78] 


METHODS  OF  LARGER  PARISH 

ish  assembled,  holding  in  the  morning  such 
a  service  as  I  have  described,  having  dinner 
together,  and  in  the  afternoon  occurred  the 
Children's  Day  services,  with  exercises  by 
the  various  schools  and  an  address  by  John 
E.  Gunckel,  the  famous  Toledo  newsboy 
man.  These  Larger  Parish  rallies  have 
proved  to  be  a  valuable  feature  of  the  work 
and  are  anticipated  with  pleasure  by  all  the 
people. 

I  wonder  if  any  pastor  ever  felt  entirely 
satisfied  with  the  results  of  his  work?  I 
certainly  do  not.  I  have  fallen  far  short  of 
my  ideal.  In  looking  back  I  see  failures 
enough  to  keep  me  humble  and  mistake 
enough  to  make  me  cautious.  The  numbers 
that  have  not  been  reached  are  so  great  that 
the  thought  of  them  mingles  much  of  sad- 
ness with  the  gladness  for  those  who  have 
come  into  the  Kingdom.  I  am  thankful  for 
the  results  that  can  be  reported,  and  I  con- 
sider them  sufficient  to  justify  the  method 

[79] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


of  the  Larger  Parish.  If  the  method  had 
been  more  efficiently  worked  there  would 
have  been  more  to  show.  My  hope  is  that 
some  one  may  make  a  better  use  of  it  and 
that  such  results  may  be  evident  that  the 
Larger  Parish  method  will  come  into  gen- 
eral operation,  and  that  it  may  play  a  large 
part  in  the  spiritual  and  social  rehabilita- 
tion of  the  rural  regions. 

11.  Community  Uplift  and  Social 
Betterment 

One  of  the  convictions  out  of  which  the 
vision  came  that  led  to  the  work  of  the 
Larger  Parish  was  that  the  Church  should 
minister  to  the  whole  man;  that  nothing 
that  goes  to  make  a  man  a  full-rounded 
man,  or  that  has  a  legitimate  place  in  his 
life  should  be  ignored  by  the  Church ;  that 
it  should  have  something  to  say  and  some- 
thing to  do  with  his  social  nature  as  well 
as  his  religious  nature;  that  it  should  con- 

[80] 


METHODS  OF  LARGER  PARISH 

cern  itself  with  the  affairs  of  the  community 
and  be  an  element  of  uplifting  power  in  the 
community  life.  Following  this  conviction, 
it  was  quite  natural  that,  when  the  work  of 
the  Larger  Parish  was  undertaken,  consid- 
erable attention  should  be  paid  to  that  part 
of  the  life  of  the  people  that  is  often 
thought  to  lie  outside  of  the  distinctive 
realm  of  religion.  The  effort  has  been 
made  to  help  the  people  in  a  social  way 
and  to  make  their  recreations  healthful  and 
wholesome,  to  stimulate  and  guide  them  in 
their  intellectual  life,  and  by  these  broader 
aims  to  minister  to  all  their  needs.  It  may 
be  profitable  to  show  how  the  methods  used 
in  the  work  of  the  Larger  Parish  have  con- 
tributed to  these  ends. 

Recognizing  the  tendency  of  country  life 
to  isolation  and  extreme  individualism  and 
the  danger  of  its  becoming  barren  and  mo- 
notonous, we  have  thought  it  important  to 

provide  for  social  and  literary  functions, 

[8i] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


and  for  wholesome  recreation  and  health- 
ful pleasures.  This  was  thought  desirable, 
not  only  for  the  young  people,  but  for  all 
the  people,  and  we  have  sought  to  bring  to- 
gether in  these  activities  the  old  and  the 
young,  and  the  children  as  well.  It  has 
been  our  effort  to  make  all  our  out-stations, 
where  services  are  held,  social  centers,  and 
to  encourage  frequent  meetings  of  the 
people  where  they  might  mingle  together 
in  a  free  and  friendly  manner.  The  people 
have  responded  to  these  efforts  and  have  ap- 
preciated very  much  the  opportunities  that 
have  been  afforded  them  in  this  direction. 

I.  Neighborhood  Clubs  have  been 
formed  in  some  of  the  out-stations  whose 
function  it  is  to  provide  for  these  social 
necessities.  The  name,  '^Neighborhood 
Club"  quite  well  defines  their  object.  They 
are  to  serve  as  social  centers.  There  is  a 
simple  constitution  and  by-laws,  and  the 
usual  officers.     But  the  work  is  carried  on 

[82] 


METHODS  OF  LARGER  PARISH 

under  the  direction  of  three  committees  in 
three  departments.  First,  there  is  a  Social 
Committee,  whose  business  it  is  to  arrange 
for  picnics,  parties,  sociables,  excursions, 
etc.  Then  there  is  a  Literary  Committee 
that  provides  for  literary  entertainments, 
lectures,  debates,  and  the  like.  After  that 
comes  the  Team  Work  Committee,  which 
leads  out  in  any  movement  in  which  the 
people  need  to  cooperate,  such  as  helping 
an  unfortunate  neighbor  to  harvest  his 
crops,  planting  trees  by  the  roadside,  plow- 
ing out  the  roads  in  winter,  or  mending  a 
bad  place  in  the  highway.  Often  many 
kindly  deeds  arc  omitted,  and  many  desir- 
able things  for  a  community  are  left  un- 
done, not  because  the  people  are  selfish,  or 
wanting  in  public  spirit,  but  for  lack  of 
leading.  There  is  no  one  to  lead  out  in 
such  things,  and  so  they  are  neglected. 

Not  long  ago  one  of  the  neighborhood 
clubs  spent  the  dav  in  helping  to  raise  a 

C83] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


barn,  having  a  dinner  together  and  enjoying 
a  jolly  social  time.  One  of  the  clubs  offered 
a  prize  for  rat-killing,  getting  out  some 
posters  that  were  a  curiosity.  From  time 
to  time  various  matters  of  local  interest  are 
taken  up  and  discussed  by  the  club,  and  con- 
siderable talent  in  debate  has  been  devel- 
oped in  unexpected  places.  Occasionally 
the  various  neighborhood  clubs  get  together 
for  a  day  of  sports  and  recreation.  They 
have  in  the  forenoon  games  and  contests, 
then  a  picnic  dinner,  followed  by  a  program 
of  music  and  addresses.  These  gatherings 
promote  neighborliness  and  afford  the 
farmers  and  their  wives  and  children  a 
little  break  in  the  monotony  of  their  toil- 
some lives. 

The  first  winter  a  lecture  course  was  or- 
ganized, consisting  of  five  or  six  numbers, 
mostly  by  home  talent.  All  these  lectures 
were  given  before  the  various  clubs.  The 
pastor  gave  an  account  of  his  travels  in  the 

[843 


METHODS  OF  LARGER  PARISH 

Holy  Land.  The  principal  of  the  Acad- 
emy talked  about  ''The  Farm  and  the 
School."  A  doctor  from  a  neighboring 
town  spoke  about  ''Farm  Sanitation,"  and 
an  expert  horticulturist  about  "Better  Or- 
chards." A  layman  spoke  about  "Some 
Legal  Principles  That  Should  be  Generally 
Known."  Much  interest  was  taken  in  these 
lectures,  and  the  people  turned  out  well  to 
hear  them.  The  next  winter  the  clubs  ar- 
ranged their  own  programs  and  carried  on 
a  lively  and  interesting  campaign.  One  of 
the  clubs  had  a  series  of  Special  Topic 
nights.  One  night  was  devoted  to  "The 
Pilgrims,"  with  a  varied  and  interesting 
program.  Another  to  "Abraham  Lincoln," 
another  to  "Michigan,"  with  a  program  full 
of  information,  historical,  statistical,  and 
otherwise,  about  the  state  of  which  the  com- 
munity was  a  part.  One  of  the  clubs  or- 
ganized and  maintained  an  Old  Fashioned 
Singing  School  under  an  instructor  from 

[85] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


the  village,  that  was  a  fair  success.  These 
neighborhood  clubs  have  proved  to  be  very- 
popular  and  very  valuable,  and  it  would 
seem  that  they  are  well  adapted  to  almost 
any  country  community,  taking  the  place  of 
the  old  lyceums  and  literary  societies  of  a 
former  generation  that  did  so  much  to 
sharpen  the  wits,  inform  the  minds,  and 
increase  the  friendliness  of  those  who  went 
before  us. 

2.  In  some  of  the  neighborhoods  where 
it  has  not  yet  been  thought  best  to  organize 
clubs,  some  attention  has  been  paid  to  this 
side  of  life  and  some  provision  made  for 
social  diversions.  During  Thanksgiving 
week,  festivals  were  held  in  three  different 
places  that  were  very  successful  and  profit- 
able. The  description  of  one  of  them  will 
be  typical.  Three  communities.  East  Joy- 
field,  Demerley,  and  the  South  Chapel, 
united  in  holding  a  festival  in  the  Joyfield 
Town  Hall  on  Thanksgiving  Day.    Thor- 

[86] 


METHODS  OF  LARGER  PARISH 

ough  preparations  had  been  made.  Vari- 
ous committees  were  appointed,  the  teach- 
ers in  the  four  school  districts  included  in 
that  territory  trained  the  children,  a  pro- 
gram of  games  and  sports  and  contests 
was  arranged,  and  all  the  people  took 
much  interest  in  getting  ready  for  the  event. 
At  three  o'clock  a  religious  service  was  held 
in  the  hall  and  the  pastor  preached  a 
Thanksgiving  sermon  to  a  large  and  atten- 
tive congregation. 

While  the  ladies  were  preparing  the  sup- 
per, the  program  of  sports,  a  part  of  which 
had  been  previously  given  in  a  large  barn 
near  by,  was  finished  on  the  lawn.  Various 
races  were  run  and  stunts  of  different  kinds 
were  performed,  including  a  tug  of  war  and 
wrestling  matches,  that  took  up  the  time  till 
the  call  to  supper  came.  Two  long  tables 
extending  the  whole  length  of  the  hall 
were  filled  twice,  not  less  than  one  hundred 
and  fifty  sitting  down  to  a  sumptuous  feast. 

[87] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


When  all  had  satisfied  the  wants  of  the 
^^inner  man,"  there  were  supplies  enough 
left  to  feed  another  crowd  almost  as  great, 
so  lavish  are  the  country  folk  in  their  hos- 
pitality. 

As  soon  as  the  tables  could  be  cleared 
away  and  the  people  could  get  seated  the 
evening's  entertainment  began.  The  hall 
was  crowded  to  its  utmost  capacity,  the 
people  were  jammed  in  like  sardines  in  a 
box,  and  some  could  not  find  entrance,  but 
the  utmost  good  nature  prevailed,  and  they 
sat,  not  patiently,  but  delightedly,  through  a 
program  of  recitations,  dialogs,  songs,  and 
like  exercises  given  by  the  children  occupy- 
ing two  full  hours.  Then  came  the  distrib- 
uting of  the  prizes  to  the  winners  in  the 
games,  and  the  happy  crowd  dispersed, 
feeling  more  kindly  toward  each  other  and 
realizing  more  fully  the  joy  of  neighborli- 
ness  because  they  had  come  together  in  their 
Thanksgiving    festival.      Similar    festivals 

[88] 


METHODS  OF  LARGER  PARISH 

were  held  at  Grace  the  day  before,  and  at 
Liberty  Union  the  day  after.  They  were 
all  conceived  and  carried  out  by  Mr.  Huck, 
the  assistant  pastor,  just  from  England,  thus 
proving  his  efficiency  and  his  adaptability. 
3.  On  a  snowy  Saturday  the  men  of  East 
Joyfield,  under  the  lead  of  the  assistant 
pastor,  arranged  ^^A  Community  Rabbit 
Hunt."  They  met  with  their  guns  and 
went  in  pairs  in  different  directions,  scour- 
ing the  woods  and  the  fields  in  search  of 
game.  They  were  measurably  successful, 
and  a  heap  of  forty-five  ^^cotton  tails"  re- 
warded their  efforts.  They  were  distrib- 
uted among  fifteen  families,  who  were  to 
prepare  them  with  other  good  things  for  a 
'^Rabbit  Social"  on  the  next  Tuesday  night 
at  the  chapel.  Though  the  night  was 
stormy,  the  chapel  was  well  filled,  there  was 
a  fine  program  of  music  and  games,  and 
then  a  feast  of  rabbit  pie  that  was  appetiz- 
ing and  abundant.     So  the  ''cotton  tails" 

[89] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


served  the  community  better  by  being  eaten 
themselves  than  they  would  if  they  had 
been  left  to  eat  the  bark  from  the  young 
fruit  trees  on  the  surrounding  farms. 

4.  Since  the  pursuit  of  athletics  has  so 
large  a  place  in  the  minds  of  the  young 
people  in  these  days,  it  has  been  thought 
w^orth  while  to  do  something  in  this  field. 
One  of  the  assistant  pastors  having  had 
some  training  when  in  school  organized 
Athletic  Clubs  among  the  boys  and  young 
men  in  six  or  seven  different  neighborhoods. 
These  clubs  met  from  time  to  time  for  prac- 
tise. They  were  combined  into  an  Athletic 
League  for  the  whole  parish  and  occasion- 
ally held  Field  Days.  They  would  come 
together  on  the  Academy  campus  at  Ben- 
zonia  and  spend  the  day  in  sports  and  games 
and  contests  in  which  a  previously  prepared 
schedule  of  events  was  carried  on.  There 
were  junior  contests  for  the  boys  and  the 
girls  too  had  a  part  in  the  last  field-day 

[90] 


METHODS  OF  LARGER  PARISH 


sports.  Occasionally  they  have  a  banquet 
with  toasts  and  an  opportunity  for  social  in- 
tercourse. These  athletic  clubs  have  not 
only  done  much  to  encourage  clean  and 
healthful  sports,  but  they  have  given  the 
assistant  pastor  large  influence  over  the 
young  people,  and  most  of  them  are  notice- 
ably regular  in  their  attendance  on  the  ser- 
vices he  conducts  on  the  Sabbath. 

Ladies'  Aid  Societies  are  organized  in 
the  various  neighborhoods  and  they  bring 
together  in  a  social  way,  not  only  the  ladies, 
but  also  the  men  in  the  winter  season,  who 
then  find  time  to  enjoy  the  good  dinner  that 
the  ladies  provide  and  to  spend  part  of  the 
day  in  social  intercourse.  These  Aid  So- 
cieties are  ready  to  take  hold  in  a  helpful 
way  of  any  enterprise  that  is  for  the  good 
of  the  community,  and  any  enterprise  to 
which  they  devote  themselves  is  bound  to 

go- 

5.  One  more  way  of  working  has  proved 

[91] 


A  COUNTRY   PARISH 


to  be  valuable,  and  well  worth  while.  Like 
nearly  all  small  towns,  we  have  a  weekly 
newspaper  which  finds  its  way  into  most  of 
the  homes  of  the  parish.  The  pastor  and 
the  editor  work  together  in  the  effort  to 
make  it  an  organ  of  helpful  power  in  the 
community  life.  For  the  past  three  years 
I  have  had  each  week  a  column — usually  a 
column  and  a  half — in  this  paper.  It  is  my 
regular  Monday  forenoon  work  to  write 
that  column.  I  put  into  it  whatever  I  think 
will  be  useful  to  the  people,  bringing  them 
many  a  message  that  would  hardly  come  ap- 
propriately into  the  pulpit,  and  reaching  in 
that  way  many  whom  I  would  not  often 
come  in  touch  with  otherwise.  The  themes 
are  various,  a  few  may  serve  as  specimens. 
^'How  to  Keep  One's  Religion  and  Make  It 
Pay,"  "The  Back  Yard,"  'The  Test  of  the 
Summer  Time,"  "The  Man  You  Happen 
to  Meet,"  "The  Utility  of  the  Yell,"  "The 
Wedding  Bells  and  Funeral  Knells,"  "Dr. 

[92] 


METHODS  OF  LARGER  PARISH 

Charles  M.  Sheldon  and  His  Ideas  of  an 
Educated  Man,"  ^^Be  a  Columbus,"  'The 
Keen  Zest  of  Living."  Any  local  topic  of 
general  interest  is  taken  up  and  discussed, 
and  the  activities  of  the  church  and  the 
social  and  literary  doings  in  the  various  out- 
stations  are  brought  before  the  people.  So 
they  are  kept  constantly  aware  that  some- 
thing is  going  on  that  is  worth  while 
throughout  the  parish,  and  I  have  an  op- 
portunitv  to  keep  my  ideas  before  the  whole 
parish.  This  I  consider  one  of  my  most 
valuable  ways  of  working,  and  I  find  that 
the  Pastor's  Column  is  eagerly  looked  for 
and  widely  read. 

This  suggests  the  question  whether  in  the 
past  the  pastors  of  our  churches  have  suffi- 
ciently appreciated  the  value  of  printer's 
ink  as  an  adjunct  in  carrying  on  religious 
and  community  work.  If  the  pastor  can 
speak  through  the  press  as  well  as  the  pul- 
pit, he  is  duplicating  his  influence. 

[93] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


6.  The  Benzonia  Christian  Endeavor 
Society  purchased  a  stereopticon  for  use  in 
the  Larger  Parish.  It  was  equipped  with 
electrical  apparatus  to  be  used  in  the  vil- 
lages, and  with  acetylene  light  for  the 
schoolhouses  and  country  places  where 
there  was  no  electric  current.  It  could  be 
easily  carried  from  place  to  place,  and  be- 
came a  very  practical  and  useful  instrument 
in  the  work.  Slides  on  various  subjects 
were  easily  obtained,  and  the  effect  of  lec- 
tures and  talks  was  greatly  increased.  The 
people  in  these  days  want  to  see  things  as 
well  as  to  hear  about  them,  and  the  sight 
helps  out  the  hearing.  They  never  get  tired 
of  looking  at  good  pictures.  It  became  easy 
with  the  help  of  the  lantern  to  provide  an 
interesting  and  profitable  evening  enter- 
tainment, and  the  people  showed  their  ap- 
preciation by  their  presence  in  large  num- 
bers and  their  careful  attention.  "The 
Panama   Canal"   was   thus   presented   and 

[94] 


METHODS  OF  LARGER  PARISH 

illustrated,  and  'The  Other  Wise  Man." 
Some  lectures  by  the  pastor — ''On  Horse- 
back through  the  Holy  Land,"  "A  Week 
in  and  about  Jerusalem,"  "Three  Months 
on  an  Ofcean  Steamer" — were  made  more 
vivid  and  attractive  by  views  from  photo- 
graphs taken  on  a  foreign  trip.  In  many 
ways  the  stereopticon  has  proved  a  valuable 
acquisition,  and  especially  in  a  country 
parish  can  it  be  used  with  great  profit  and 
satisfaction. 

7.  In  a  local  option  campaign  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Larger  Parish  made  itself  felt 
in  an  effective  way  for  the  banishment  of 
the  saloon.  Debates  were  arranged  on  the 
question  in  the  neighborhood  clubs. 

The  pastors  preached  on  the  subject  and 
made  addresses  at  the  meetings  held 
throughout  the  county.  One  of  the  assist- 
ant pastors  gave  valuable  service  on  the 
Central  Committee.  In  all  such  move- 
ments that  have  for  their  object  the  purify- 

[95] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


ing  of  the  community  and  the  establishment 
of  righteousness  the  forces  that  are  active 
in  the  Larger  Parish  are  lined  up  on  the 
right  side,  ready  to  cooperate  and  promptly 
available  for  practical  work. 

An  Every  Member  Canvass  for  home 
and  foreign  missions  is  carried  on  through- 
out the  whole  parish.  Each  year  a  letter  is 
prepared,  giving  briefly  the  progress  of  the 
work  for  the  year  past  and  setting  forth  its 
present  condition.  These  letters  are  sent  by 
mail  to  nearly  all  the  families  in  the  parish, 
with  small  collection  envelopes  for  the  dif- 
ferent members  of  the  household,  with  the 
request  that  they  bring  the  offerings  to  their 
accustomed  places  of  worship.  The  chil- 
dren as  well  as  the  older  people  are  encour- 
aged to  bring  in  their  offerings,  and  we 
have  found  this  an  effective  way  of  cultivat- 
ing in  them  the  spirit  of  benevolence. 
There  is  much  gain  in  leading  them  to  feel 
that  they  have  a  part  in  the  work. 

[96] 


VI 
THINGS  YET  TO  BE  DONE 

THEIR  name  is  legion.  Everything  is 
to  be  done.  Only  a  beginning  has 
been  made.  Nothing  is  finished.  What  has 
been  accomplished  is  only  a  prophecy  of  the 
larger  and  completer  work  that  lies  before 
us  in  the  future.  Religious  and  community 
work  is  not  mechanical.  You  cannot  finish 
it  up  and  store  it  away  as  the  carpenter  fin- 
ishes a  box,  or  the  housewife  a  garment. 
Life  is  a  development,  a  growth,  and  those 
who  deal  with  life  must  always  be  content 
with  beginnings.  "Nothing  that  has  life  is 
ever  finished."  Life  in  its  larger  unfolding 
and  its  fuller  meaning  must  always  be  in 
the  future.  A  life  that  is  finished  and  com- 
plete would  better  end,  and  a  community 
that  has  reached  perfection  should  be  trans- 
lated to  another  sphere.    We  must  ever  be 

[97] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


content  to  spend  our  labor  upon  beginnings, 
thankful  for  such  fruitage  as  may  appear 
from  time  to  time.  The  real  ingathering 
must  always  be  in  the  future.  What  has 
been  accomplished  in  the  Larger  Parish 
gives  us  confidence  in  the  methods  em- 
ployed, and  encourages  us  to  expect  larger 
things  from  the  better  and  completer  appli- 
cation of  those  and  similar  methods  in  the 
days  to  come. 

In  may  be  well  to  mention  some  of  the 
things  that  have  not  as  yet  been  fully  done, 
but  that  we  hope  to  see  accomplished  in  the 
Larger  Parish  in  the  future. 

I.  The  first  and  most  important  aim  of 
this  work,  and  of  all  church  work,  is  to 
bring  people  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  All 
social  and  community  work  must  be  subor- 
dinate to  this  and  lead  up  to  it.  The 
Church  must  be  something  more  than  a 
social  settlement.  I  still  hold  to  the  old- 
fashioned  idea  that  men  need  to  be  saved, 

[98] 


THINGS   YET  TO   BE   DONE 

and  that  the  only  salvation  that  there  can  be 
for  them  is  found  in  loyalty  to  Jesus  Christ. 
While  this  salvation  is  a  matter  of  the  spirit, 
affecting  one's  standing  with  God  and  his 
relation  to  the  great  eternal  realities,  it  also 
affects  his  standing  with  men  and  his  rela- 
tion to  society.  And  here  comes  in  all  the 
humanitarian  and  community  work  that  is 
a  legitimate  and  important  part  of  the 
r  church's  concern.  Community  work  can 
never  take  the  place  of  the  work  of  God's 
Spirit  in  the  individual  life.  To  be  per- 
manently valuable  it  must  be  the  result 
of  that  work.  The  kingdom  of  God  em- 
braces the  complete  ideal,  and  if  we  can 
induce  men  to  live  according  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  that  kingdom,  careful  attention 
will  be  paid  to  all  the  work  that  needs 
to  be  done  for  the  community.  Therefore 
the  work  of  the  Larger  Parish  is  primarily, 
though  not  exclusively,  evangelistic.  Wc 
are  trying  to  lead  men  to  become  Christians, 

[99] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


not  in  a  narrow  sense,  but  in  the  large,  rich 
meaning  of  that  word  which  the  teaching  of 
Jesus  gives  it. 

During  the  three  years  that  we  have  in 
review  there  have  been  some  such  results. 
A  goodly  number  have  decided  to  begin  the 
Christian  life  and  have  taken  their  places  in 
the  ranks  of  the  followers  of  Jesus  Christ. 
We  are  thankful  that  the  army  of  the  Lord 
has  received  so  many  new  recruits.  But 
there  are  many  more  who  are  not  as  yet 
willing  to  enlist.  The  number  of  those  who 
are  still  outside  the  ranks  is  greater  than  of 
those  who  are  marching  under  the  banner 
of  the  visible  Church.  Much  remains  to  be 
done  in  this  direction.  The  work  is  far 
from  being  complete  in  this  its  most  vital 
and  important  aspect.  We  have  only  made 
a  beginning.  It  will  not  be  finished  until 
every  person  in  all  the  wide  parish  is  openly 
and  positively  arrayed  on  the  side  of  Christ. 
At  the  present  rate  of  progress  it  looks  as  if 

[lOO] 


THINGS   YET  TO   BE   DONE 

the  Church  had  work  laid  out  for  it  for  a 
long  time  to  come.  It  is  not  in  danger  of 
soon  running  out  of  material.  There  is  a 
great  work  yet  to  be  done  in  the  way  of 
bringing  men  into  the  kingdom  of  God. 
We  hope  to  keep  that  always  in  view — to 
make  it  our  central  aim  and  our  uppermost 
thought. 

2.  There  needs  to  be  created  in  the  hearts 
of  the  people  more  respect  for  the  Church, 
a  better  understanding  of  its  mission,  and  a 
fuller  appreciation  of  its  work.  Many 
people  have  mistaken  ideas  of  the  Church, 
and  therefore  fail  to  appreciate  its  work  or 
its  purpose.  Some  regard  it  simply  as  a 
venerable  institution  that  has  long  had  a 
place  in  human  society.  In  former  times  it 
has  done  an  important  work,  and  still  has 
its  value.  It  is  to  be  honored  for  its  record 
and  still  encouraged  in  a  mild  and  patroniz- 
ing way.  They  would  not  banish  the 
Church — they  are  not  yet  quite  ready  to 

[lOl] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


undertake  to  conduct  human  society  with- 
out it.  They  tolerate  it  and  perhaps  sup- 
port it  in  a  half-hearted  way,  but  they  do 
not  regard  it  as  absolutely  essential  or  its 
work  as  vitally  important.  They  do  not 
understand  the  Church.  The  Church  may 
be  in  some  measure  to  blame  for  this.  It 
has  not  always  understood  itself.  Its  con- 
ception of  its  own  mission  has  been  small, 
narrow,  and  inadequate,  and  it  was  inevi- 
table that  no  truer  or  larger  impression 
could  be  made  upon  the  community.  When 
the  Church  undertakes  to  do  all  for  which 
it  is  responsible  and  prosecutes  it  with  the 
vigor  and  earnestness  that  it  deserves,  the 
people  will  begin  to  understand  it  better 
and  to  appreciate  more  fully  its  mission. 

Many  people  regard  the  Church  as  an 
institution  to  be  supported.  In  common 
thought  this  institution,  for  some  reason 
that  may  not  always  appear,  has  assumed  the 
right  to  lay  the  community  under  tribute 

[102] 


THINGS   YET  TO   BE   DONE 

for  support.  Some  accept  this  traditional 
idea  without  thinking  much  about  it,  while 
others  are  in  revolt  against  it.  One  of  the 
assistant  pastors  was  calling  at  a  house  for 
the  first  time.  The  master  of  the  house, 
when  he  was  introduced,  said,  *'0h,  another 
preacher!  Well,  I  suppose  they  all  have  to 
be  supported."  And  he  was  not  the  first 
representative  of  the  Church  that  has  met 
with  such  an  indignity. 

Here  again  the  Church  may  be  at  least 
partially  to  blame.  It  has  too  often  re- 
garded its  ofBce  as  that  of  preying  upon  the 
community  as  well  as  praying  for  it.  It  has 
not  always  been  careful  to  give  value  re- 
ceived. 

It  is  our  purpose  to  make  the  Church  a 
necessity  in  the  community.  Its  good 
works,  its  efficiency  as  an  element  of  power 
in  everything  that  is  for  the  improvement 
and  uplifting  of  the  people,  should  be  so 
great  and  so  evident  that  no  one  can  reason- 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


ably  call  them  in  question.  That  is  one  of 
the  things  that  needs  to  be  done,  and  that  by 
the  method  of  the  Larger  Parish  we  hope  to 
accomplish.  We  propose  that  the  Church 
shall  have  such  a  spirit  of  helpfulness,  that 
it  shall  be  so  wise  and  practical  in  laying 
out  its  work,  so  energetic  and  aggressive  in 
prosecuting  it,  that  all  shall  recognize  it  as 
a  potent  and  most  blessed  force — an  insti- 
tution that  they  gladly  support  because  of 
its  practical  value.  Some  progress  has  been 
made  in  this  direction.  The  Church  has 
gained  immensely  in  the  respect  of  the 
people  since  it  began  the  work  of  the  Larger 
Parish.  The  people  can  see  that  it  is  really 
doing  something. 

3.  There  needs  to  be  created  a  stronger 
and  more  universal  community  spirit.  The 
tendency  in  the  country  toward  isolation 
and  independence  is  especially  strong. 
Each  farmer  is  separate  from  every  other. 

He  lives  alone,  somewhat  like  a  baron  in 

[104] 


m 

■KH 

'   —# 

^1"= 

^^^ 

"^ 

THINGS   YET  TO   BE   DONE 

his  castle  in  old  feudal  times,  sufficient  for 
himself,  without  much  necessity  of  borrow- 
ing, or  thought  of  lending.  Living  in 
such  conditions  it  is  quite  natural  that  he 
should  grow  selfish,  and  should  come  to 
think  largely  if  not  exclusively  of  his  own 
individual  interests.  He  is  in  danger  of 
overlooking  the  fact  that  society  is  an  or- 
ganism, and  he  is  a  part  of  it;  that  he 
has  duties  and  obligations  to  the  general 
public;  that  his  life  cannot  be  complete 
if  it  is  lived  alone ;  that  he  owes  something 
to  the  community  at  large,  and  that  he 
must  get  something  from  it  if  he  would 
really  be  a  man,  do  a  man's  work,  and  fill  a 
man's  place.  He  must  come  to  see  that  the 
public  good  means  private  advantage,  and 
that  when  he  cuts  himself  off  from  others 
and  thinks  only  of  his  own  individual  inter- 
ests he  is  following  a  foolish  and  suicidal 
policy. 

This  communitv  spirit  needs  to  be  care- 

'[105] 


A  COUNTRY   PARISH 


fully  cultivated,  and  that  work  has  been 
going  on  in  the  Larger  Parish.  The  com- 
munity spirit  has  been  growing.  The  peo- 
ple are  more  interested  in  one  another  and 
in  those  things  that  are  undertaken  for  the 
public  good  than  they  formerly  were.  But 
there  is  still  much  to  be  done  in  this  respect. 
Not  all  the  people  are  yet  able  to  look  over 
the  narrow  boundaries  of  their  own  posses- 
sions and  see  their  neighbors'  needs.  Not 
all  grasp  the  idea  of  the  solidarity  of  society. 
But  this  spirit  is  growing  and  there  will  be 
larger  fruitage  in  the  coming  days. 

4.  There  needs  to  be  more  team  work 
among  the  people,  more  cooperation  in 
carrying  out  the  schemes  that  are  for  the 
public  good.  When  all  the  people  take 
hold  together,  there  is  scarcely  anything 
that  needs  to  be  done  that  cannot  be  accom- 
plished. A  single  individual  is  compara- 
tively powerless,  but  a  common  movement 
in  any  community  is  bound  to  succeed.  One 

[106] 


THINGS   YET  TO   BE   DONE 

of  the  foremost  services  to  any  community 
is  to  unite  its  forces  and  bring  the  people  to 
work  together  heartily  and  enthusiastically 
in  some  good  cause. 

The  work  of  the  Larger  Parish  has  been 
useful  in  this  direction.  The  Team  Work 
Committees  of  the  neighborhood  clubs  have 
this  for  their  object — to  lead  out  in  any- 
thing in  which  it  is  desirable  for  the  people 
to  move  together.  It  is  easier  to  bring  the 
people  to  unite  their  efforts  now  than  it 
was  three  years  ago,  but  much  more  remains 
to  be  done.  The  goal  has  not  yet  been 
reached.  The  effective  team  work  that  we 
have  seen  is  a  prophecy  of  that  completer 
cooperation  in  all  good  things  that  we  hope 
and  expect  to  see  in  the  coming  days. 

5.  In  some  way  more  variety  should  be 
brought  into  the  lives  of  country  people. 
Farm  life  should  become  one  of  the  most 
attractive  and  interesting  spheres  of  activ- 
ity.   Its  freedom,  its  independence,  its  close 

[107]      . 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


contact  with  nature,  should  give  to  it  for 
multitudes  a  compelling  charm.  It  would 
seem  that  a  strong  current  of  human  inter- 
est could  be  made  to  flow  from  the  crowded 
and  unwholesome  conditions  of  the  city  to 
the  open  country,  where  the  fresh  breezes 
play  and  the  flowers  bloom.  At  present  it 
is  not  so.  The  stream  flows  in  the  opposite 
direction  and  every  year  the  city  swallows 
up  much  of  the  best  blood  of  the  country. 
It  is  the  city  that  attracts,  and  the  country 
that  repels.  This  can  be  explained  very 
largely  by  the  isolated  and  monotonous 
character  of  country  life. 

The  only  way  by  which  this  movement 
can  be  checked  or  reversed  is  to  give 
more  variety  to  rural  life;  to  break  up  its 
monotony  and  to  introduce  into  it  those 
intellectual  and  social  pleasures  and  em- 
ployments that  are  a  necessary  part  of  a 
healthful  and  contented  ,life.  Young  peo- 
ple crave  variety,  they  must  get  together, 

[io8] 


THINGS   YET  TO   BE   DONE 

they  must  have  some  kind  of  amusements, 
some  form  of  recreation.  If  they  cannot 
find  it  on  the  farm,  they  will  go  to  the  city 
where  it  is  supplied  in  lavish  abundance 
but  often  in  objectionable  forms. 

It  has  been  the  object  of  the  work  of  the 
Larger  Parish  to  supply  this  need  of  coun- 
try life.  It  has  provided  and  promoted 
frequent  opportunities  for  the  people  to 
come  together  in  a  social  w^ay.  The  Sunday 
services  established  in  so  many  places  have 
not  only  served  as  opportunities  of  worship, 
but  also  of  neighborly  intercourse  and  of 
the  interchange  of  friendly  greetings.  The 
neighborhood  clubs  have  been  a  kind  of 
social  and  literary  clearing-house  for  the 
community,  affording  many  a  pleasant  and 
profitable  evening  and  providing  something 
wholesome  to  think  of  and  to  plan  for  dur- 
ing the  day.  The  Ladies'  Aid  Societies  have 
brought  the  women  together,   in   projects 

and  accomplishments  of  common  interest, 

[109] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


relieving  the  weeks  of  monotonous  toil  with 
forms  of  cooperative  fellowship.  Much 
more  needs  to  be  done  to  impart  interest  and 
attraction  to  life  in  the  country,  and  it  is 
something  to  which  the  Church,  in  its  desire 
to  minister  to  the  whole  man,  may  very 
appropriately  give  its  thought  and  effort. 

6.  Machinery  seems  to  be  a  necessity  in 
all  kinds  of  work.  Nothing  can  be  done 
without  a  method,  an  organization,  a  ma- 
chine— some  kind  of  an  instrument  to  facil- 
itate the  process.  But  the  machine  is  never 
properly  an  end  in  itself.  Sometimes  it  is 
made  an  end,  but  no  farmer  could  be  satis- 
fied with  a  reaper  that  did  not  cut  the  grain, 
however  beautiful  and  well-made  it  might 
be  or  however  smoothly  it  might  run. 
Nevertheless  some  churches  seem  to  be  sat- 
isfied with  the  smooth  running  of  the  ma- 
chinery, even  though  the  results  of  it  all  are 
very  meager. 

The  primary  object  of  the  work  of  the 

[no] 


THINGS   YET  TO    BE   DONE 

Larger  Parish  is  to  help  the  people  and  to 
serve  them  in  a  religious  and  social  way, 
not  to  promote  a  denomination,  to  build  up 
a  church,  to  perfect  an  organization,  or  to 
construct  or  to  operate  machinery  of  any 
kind.  But  in  order  to  help  the  people  and 
serve  their  best  interests  efficiently,  some 
machinery,  some  organization,  is  necessary. 
Our  thought  is  to  supply  it  when  the  neces- 
sity comes,  but  not  before.  When  it  is 
needed  it  must  be  invented  or  discovered, 
or  in  some  way  brought  into  the  service. 
Certain  methods  have  been  introduced. 
There  have  been  employed  some  forms  of 
organization,  some  machinery  has  been  set 
in  operation.  Some  things  we  have  tried, 
that  did  not  work  satisfactorily  and  they 
had  to  be  discarded.  Some  of  the  methods 
that  seem  to  be  successful  at  present  may 
not  always  continue  to  work  so  well,  and 
they  will  have  to  be  exchanged  for  others. 
We   must   ever   keep    in   view   the   prime 

[III] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


object  for  which  we  are  working — to  serve 
the  people  and  to  uplift  the  community- 
life — and  to  that  object  we  must  adapt  our 
methods  and  adjust  our  machinery. 

If  we  do  the  work  that  needs  to  be  done 
in  the  coming  days  we  shall  need  a  true  and 
unwavering  purpose,  a  clear  eye  to  discern 
the  situation,  a  calm  and  correct  judgment 
to  fit  the  method  to  the  work,  and  above  all, 
the  constant  leading  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
The  Larger  Parish  is  not  a  method,  or  or- 
ganization, or  machine,  that  one  can  secure 
and  put  in  operation  and  then  the  work  is 
done.  It  is  a  vision — an  ideal — that  must 
be  a  living  reality  in  the  soul,  and  then  must 
be  wrought  out  in  actual  life  in  the  best 
way  possible. 


[112] 


VII 
SOME    RESULTANT   CONCLUSIONS 

THIS  story  began  with  ^'Some  Convic- 
tions." It  ends  with  ^'Some  Con- 
clusions." There  has  been  an  attempt  to 
tell  how  a  vision  became  a  reality.  The 
vision  originated  in  convictions.  The  con- 
clusions have  come  from  the  realization  of 
the  vision. 

There  are  a  few  things  that  may  be 
stated  with  confidence  as  the  result  of  the 
three  years'  work  in  translating  the  vision 
into  the  fact  of  the  Larger  Parish.  The 
mention  of  some  of  them  will  round  out  the 
story. 

I.  The  village  church,  if  it  would  do  its 
proper  work,  must  belong  to  the  people  and 
be  in  close  touch  with  them.  It  must  min- 
ister in  some  way  to  all  the  people  and  be  a 

[113] 


A  COUNTRY   PARISH 


force  in  the  life  of  all  the  people.  Churches 
like  individuals  are  known  to  have  certain 
characteristics,  to  possess  certain  tempera- 
ments. Some  are  aristocratic  and  exclusive. 
They  gather  to  themselves  a  number  of 
select  families  who  have  common  tastes  and 
are  congenial  with  one  another.  They  have 
good  times  together,  and  within  that  narrow 
circle  there  is  a  delightful  social  life.  Those 
few  people  are  well  trained,  and  well  in- 
structed in  the  facts  and  principles  of  relig- 
ion as  they  are  understood  by  them.  But 
they  do  not  seem  to  get  hold  of  the  idea  that 
the  church  is  for  all  the  people;  that  as 
Jesus  conceived  it  it  is  essentially  demo- 
cratic. They  have  no  sense  of  obligation 
for  the  community  at  large,  and  make  no 
effort  to  affect  it  as  a  whole  and  to  lift  it  up 
to  a  higher  level. 

The  village  church  that  would  do  its 
work  must  be  democratic  and  must  have  a 
community  consciousness.     It  must  belong 

[114] 


RESULTANT  CONCLUSIONS 

to  the  people — be  in  close  touch  with  those 
of  each  and  every  class. 

2.  The  village  church,  if  it  would  do  its 
proper  work,  must  recognize  its  obligation 
to  minister  in  some  way  to  the  religious  and 
social  needs  of  the  people  in  the  outlying 
country  districts.  The  village  should  not 
be  its  parish,  but  rather  its  base  of  opera- 
tions, from  which  it  goes  forth  to  all  the 
wide-stretching  territory  that  lies  beyond. 

3.  The  church  which  has  this  vision, 
which  recognizes  this  obligation  and  seeks 
to  discharge  it,  will  find  some  way  of  doing 
it.  The  work  within  the  towns  and  villages 
is  often  great  and  difficult.  Many  churches 
have  failed  to  reach  all  the  people  within 
the  sound  of  their  church-bell,  and  there  is 
much  work  at  their  very  doors  that  they 
have  not  yet  accomplished.  Shall  they 
reach  out  and  extend  their  parish  threefold, 
and  multiply  their  duties  and  obligations 
many  times?     If  they  do  not  do  all  that 

["S] 


A  COUNTRY   PARISH 


ought  to  be  done  in  their  smaller  parish, 
shall  they  increase  its  boundaries  and  as- 
sume greater  obligations?  Yes.  That  is 
what  many  churches  are  languishing  for — 
a  bigger  job,  something  that  it  is  worth 
while  to  do ;  something  that  will  challenge 
all  their  powers  and  awaken  to  enthusiasm 
their  sleeping  energies. 

4.  The  only  village  church  that  will  con- 
tinue to  abide  in  strength  and  vigor  in  the 
future  years  will  be  the  church  that  is  all 
buttressed  about  by  a  strong  and  vigorous 
country  work.  It  must  be  done  as  a  means 
of  self-preservation.  The  village  churches 
are  as  much  in  danger  of  losing  their  lives 
as  the  country  churches  are.  The  church 
that  confines  its  efforts  within  the  village 
boundaries  is  sure  to  languish  and  dwindle 
and  after  a  while  it  will  give  up  the  ghost, 
as  it  ought  to  do.  As  the  city  is  fed  from 
the  towns  and  villages,  so  the  towns  and 
villages  arc  fed  from  the  country.     If  the 

[116] 


RESULTANT  CONCLUSIONS 

work  goes  down  in  the  towns  and  villages, 
it  will  be  felt  in  the  city,  and  if  it  loses 
its  hold  in  the  country,  it  will  soon  lose 
its  grip  upon  the  villages  and  towns.  The 
country  needs  the  work  of  the  Larger  Par- 
ish, and  it  will  perish  without  it.  But  the 
village  church  needs  to  do  the  work  even 
more,  and  unless  it  takes  it  up  with  vigor  it 
is  doomed. 

5.  When  the  churches  come  to  be  more 
interested  in  the  promotion  of  the  Kingdom 
than  they  are  in  the  promotion  of  their  own 
particular  denomination,  they  will  begin 
to  have  that  prosperity  which  only  those 
can  have  who  are  really  doing  the  Lord's 
work.  The  chief  hindrance  to  the  work  of 
the  churches  is  often  the  churches  them- 
selves. One  of  the  greatest  needs  of  the 
villages  and  rural  regions  is  fewer  churches. 

If  in  each  small  village  there  was  a  single 
church  in  which  all  the  Christians  of  the 
community  could  unite,  they  could  easily 

["7] 


A  COUNTRY   PARISH 


organize  the  work  in  all  the  surrounding 
country  and  carry  it  on  successfully.  But 
where  there  are  a  number  of  churches  they 
are  in  the  way  of  each  other  and  effectually 
prevent  any  widespread  and  efficient  work. 
Still,  even  in  that  unfortunate  condition, 
something  may  be  done  in  a  systematic  way 
to  help  the  rural  regions.  Why  cannot  the 
representatives  of  the  various  churches  get 
together,  make  a  united  survey  of  the 
country  for  miles  in  every  direction,  be- 
come fully  acquainted  with  the  situation 
and  conditions,  and  seeing  clearly  what 
needs  to  be  done,  divide  the  territory  up 
between  them,  giving  each  church  its  own 
particular  field,  and  allowing  it  to  arrange 
for  its  cultivation  in  its  own  way?  I  believe 
that  some  such  arrangement  is  feasible  when 
it  is  the  Kingdom  that  the  churches  are 
chiefly  interested  to  promote,  instead  of  the 
particular  denomination  to  which  they 
happen  to  belong. 

[ii8] 


RESULTANT  CONCLUSIONS 

6.  When  all  the  religious  forces  in  any 
community  can  combine  and  work  together, 
all  the  work  that  needs  to  be  done  in  the 
community  can  be  done,  and  there  will  be 
no  lack  of  resources  to  carry  it  on  with  vigor 
and  success.  In  almost  every  community 
there  are  Christians  enough,  and  there  is 
money  enough,  for  the  work,  if  only  they 
can  be  assembled  and  utilized.  But  when 
they  are  scattered  about,  lying  around  lose 
and  uncombined,  or  when  they  are  organ- 
ized into  competing  camps,  they  are  useless 
for  any  purpose  of  aggressive  and  effective 
work.  It  isn^t  the  poverty  of  the  people 
that  stands  in  the  way,  or  the  small  number 
of  professing  Christians.  It  is  the  lack  of 
team  work,  the  lack  of  cooperation,  that 
constitutes  the  weakness  of  the  cause.  No 
work  can  be  done  in  the  country  that  is  at  all 
effective  without  this  cooperation  and  com- 
bination. With  it,  all  the  work  that  needs 
to  be  done,  can  be  done. 

[119] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


7.  The  church  that  sees  the  vision  and 
with  faith  and  courage  undertakes  to  make 
it  a  reality,  will  be  prospered.  Perhaps  the 
experience  of  the  Benzonia  church  may  be 
cited  as  proof  of  this.  Situated  in  a  small 
village,  composed  of  people  of  meager 
means,  in  a  country  that  has  not  even  yet 
emerged  from  pioneer  conditions,  it  had 
for  many  years  carried  on  its  work  only 
with  much  sacrifice  and  careful  economy. 
Three  years  ago,  by  a  unanimous  vote,  it 
formally  adopted  the  policy  of  reaching 
out  and  annexing  all  the  territory  within 
a  radius  of  five  miles  in  every  direction, 
thus  greatly  increasing  its  obligations  and 
more  than  doubling  its  annual  budget  of 
expenses.  There  was  some  questioning  as 
to  how  it  could  be  done,  but,  without  wait- 
ing for  clearer  light,  it  moved  forward 
unanimously  to  the  enlarged  work. 

What  do  we  find  to  be  the  result  of  the 

three  years?     They  have   been  the  three 

[120] 


RESULTANT  CONCLUSIONS 


most    prosperous    years    of    the    church's 
history.    Two  men  have  been  added  to  the 
clerical  force.    The  expenses  of  the  church 
have  been  met,  and  the  bills  have  been  paid 
when  they  were  due.    The  contributions  for 
home  and  foreign  missions  have  more  than 
doubled.      More  members   have  been   re- 
ceived than  during  any  other  similar  period. 
There  has  been  perfect  harmony  and  the 
people  have  been  glad  and  happy  in  their 
common  work.    Ten  places  of  worship  have 
been    established    in    the    country    around 
where    regular    services    are    held.      The 
people  in  these  neighborhoods  attend  their 
own  services  and  do  not  come  into  the  vil- 
lage church  as  some  of  them  formerly  did. 
The  present  arrangement  does  not  tend  to 
build  up  a  large  central  congregation,  but 
has  the  opposite  effect.    Thirty  former  cen- 
tral members  have  become  part  of  a  newly 
formed  church  three  miles  away.     There 
has  been  no  great  increase  in  the  population, 

[121] 


A  COUNTRY   PARISH 


either  of  the  village  or  of  the  country 
around.  But  the  congregations  and  the 
Sunday-schools  were  never  so  large  as  they 
have  been  during  this  period.  It  has  been 
found  impossible  to  accommodate  all  those 
who  wished  to  worship  with  the  church,  or 
properly  to  care  for  those  attending  the 
Sunday-school.  A  larger  building  became 
an  actual  necessity,  and  in  the  summer  of 
1913  an  addition  was  made,  increasing  the 
seating  capacity  of  the  building  by  one 
third,  and  providing  a  number  of  rooms  for 
Sunday-school  and  social  purpose.  Can  we 
doubt  that  the  blessing  of  God  will  attend 
any  church  that  sees  the  vision,  and  with 
faith  and  courage  and  sacrifice  gives  itself 
to  the  work  of  making  it  a  reality? 

8.  When  all  the  ministers  and  all  the 
churches  catch  the  vision  of  the  Larger 
Parish  and  address  themselves  to  the  work 
of  making  it  a  reality,  the  rural  regions  will 
be  rehabilitated,  religiously,  morally,  and 

[122] 


RESULTANT  CONCLUSIONS 

socially,  and  a  splendid  impulse  will  be 
given  to  the  work  throughout  the  whole 
country.  If  some  practical  plan  can  be 
adopted  by  the  village  churches  for  exten- 
sion work,  the  whole  aspect  of  the  country 
situation  may  be  quickly  changed.  The 
people,  both  in  the  villages  and  in  the  open 
country,  are  more  ready  for  some  such 
movement  than  has  been  supposed.  Would 
not  the  Larger  Parish  idea  as  set  forth  in 
this  story  furnish  a  good  working  plan  for 
such  a  movement? 

No  man  can  have  very  much  enthusiasm 
in  a  task  that  does  not  challenge  all  his 
powers  and  bring  them  into  action — neither 
can  a  church.  With  the  village  churches  it 
is  a  case  of  self-preservation  as  well  as  out- 
reaching  service.  They  must  do  this  work 
or  die.  They  will  not  long  survive  the  spir- 
itual declension  of  the  country.  The  coun- 
try and  the  village  stand  or  fall  together. 
Their  fortunes  are  united.    They  must  help 

[123] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


each  other  up  into  a  better  life  or  they  will 
sink  into  a  like  economic,  social,  and  spir- 
itual stagnation  and  death.  The  plan  of  the 
wider  parish,  or  some  better  plan,  if  it  is 
wisely  and  vigorously  worked,  will  secure 
both  to  the  village  and  the  country  com- 
munities their  rightful  heritage  of  spiritual 
and  social  strength  and  usefulness. 

9.  Nearly  all  the  Christian  denominations 
have  their  home  missionary  boards  or  soci- 
eties whose  functions  it  is  to  help  sustain 
gospel  work  in  needy  places  and  to  organize 
and  cherish  churches  on  the  frontier  and  in 
destitute  places.  The  frontier  lines  are  not 
so  extensive  as  they  once  were,  but  the  deso- 
late places  are  almost  as  numerous  as  ever, 
and  they  are  in  the  very  heart  of  our  most 
highly  developed  civilization.  In  fact, 
they  lie  all  about  our  churches,  often  almost 
within  the  sound  of  the  church-bell.  It  is 
often  too  expensive  to  sustain  a  minister  and 

maintain  regular  services  in  all  these  places 

[124] 


RESULTANT  CONCLUSIONS 

and  so  they  arc  left  without  gospel  priv- 
ileges. If  they  can  be  grouped  about  a  vil- 
lage church  as  a  center,  and  if  the  church 
can  be  the  base  of  operations  from  which 
the  work  is  carried  on  in  all  these  outlying 
regions ;  if  through  the  aid  of  the  home 
missionary  boards  a  sufficient  clerical  force 
can  be  maintained  to  carry  on  the  wide 
work,  will  not  such  a  course  be  a  practical, 
a  successful,  and  an  economical  method  of 
accomplishing  home  mission  work? 

God  is  waiting  to  give  the  vision  to  those 
who  are  ready  to  receive  it.  The  country 
in  its  great  need  and  desolation  is  waiting 
for  the  help  which  the  village  churches  can 
give  to  them.  I  believe  the  home  mission- 
ary societies  and  boards  are  ready  to  cooper- 
ate in  some  such  plan  for  the  uplifting  and 
the  evangelization  of  the  country  districts. 
The  village  churches  themselves  are  wait- 
ing for  the  wider  work  to  quicken  their 
waning  life,  and  to  kindle  their  dying  en- 

[125] 


A  COUNTRY  PARISH 


thusiasm.  The  world  is  waiting  to  see 
them  move  forward  in  a  determined  and 
consecrated  effort  to  reduce  the  vision  to 
reality.  God  is  waiting  to  pour  out  his 
Spirit  in  abundant  blessing  upon  the 
churches  that  have  enough  faith  and  cour- 
age to  undertake  the  work. 

I  believe  that  the  fulfilment  of  all  this  is 
not  far  in  the  future,  and  if  this  story  of  the 
Larger  Parish  shall  contribute  even  in  a 
small  degree  to  this  result,  the  teller  will  be 
amply  repaid  for  his  attempt  to  picture  the 
new  path  along  which  God  has  led  him. 

"Move  to  the  fore. 

God  himself  waits,  and  must  wait,  till  thou 

come, 
Men  are  God's  prophets  though  ages  lie 

dumb. 
Halts  the  Christ-Kingdom,  with  conquest 

so  near? 
Thou  art  the  cause,  then,  thou  man  at  the 

rear. 
Move  to  the  fore." 


[126] 


Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Libraries 


1    1012  01233   9281 


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